:

nacle, not made with hands-that is to say, not of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God."

"It is finished"—the reign of death is at an end. He took part of flesh and blood "that by death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. When he died the victory was gained; death and hell were rifled of their prey; the lawful captives were delivered. Behold the commentary on this in the quaking earth, the rending rocks, the opening graves. When he breathed forth his mighty soul in victory, hell trembled to its centre. Hades is forced to acknowledge the entrance of THE PRINCE OF life. "The living one was dead," and therefore holds the keys of death and hell.”Rev. i. 18.

"Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, his flesh," and

having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near;" removing every obstacle of unbelief, "with a true," i. e., undoubting "heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.-Heb. x. 19-22. Oh, that the blood of his cross may purge our inner man from the power of sin, and sanctify our outward man from the practice of sin, and enable each of us to re-echo the joyful cry, "It is finished"-Glory, glory to the Lamb.

LECTURE VII.

SATURDAY, APRIL 14.

THE SAVIOUR ON THE CROSS.

FROM HIS DEATH TO THE REMOVAL OF HIS BODY.

"The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should 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. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already they brake not his legs but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water; and he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken. And again, another Scripture saith: They shall look on him whom they pierced."JOHN, xix. 31-37.

We

THUS terminates the history of the cross. have been privileged to turn over its deeply-interesting pages, and learn the lessons which it teaches concerning God and man; we have, as it were, listened to the Saviour himself speaking to us in suffering and in death; he is now beyond the reach of ignominy and pain-his happy spirit has gone "to where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest:" but still he speaks. His lifeless body still tells a tale of redeeming love and mercy, in the blood and water which flow from his pierced side. Oh!

"he being

if it were truly said of Abel that dead yet speaketh" how much more truly may it be said of Him. Let us, then, draw near into the presence of his cross, and may the Lord the Spirit grant to us a hearing ear and understanding heart, to receive that instruction which it is calculated to impart.

I will first make a few general observations on this part of the history, and then consider the two particulars mentioned.

1st. That not a bone of him was broken.

2nd. That blood and water flowed from his pierced side.

I. The first observation I would make is on the request of the Jews, that the bodies should be taken down from the cross, lest the Sabbath should be defiled.

The reflection that forces itself upon the mind on reading this is, How wonderful the obduracy of the human heart! Observe how the murderers of the Saviour-the men, who, while the heathen governor had acknowledged him to be innocent, had pursued him to death with such unrelenting cruelty-observe how they retain a scrupulous regard to the external ceremonies of religion. What a picture of man! If these deeds had been done in some uncultivated quarter we had said it was a picture of barbarism; but what an exhibition is presented of human nature when we remember that all this was done in the most cultivated region of the world at

that time, and among the only people who possessed the ordinances of God. They had rejected God himself, under pretence of doing God service. They had condemned him amidst an outward show of zeal for his glory; and after they had beheld all the wonders of his cross and passion, which forced conviction on the centurion's mind, these men, continuing hardened in unbelief, yet preserving the same pretext of religion, supplicate Pilate that the bodies might be taken down from the cross, that the Sabbath might not be broken! What a climax is here! How impossible that anything which the most fertile imagination could devise to make an exhibition of depravity, could exceed the reality of the picture presented here. What a proof, too, of the vanity of mere externalism. Scrupulous the Christian will always be about the smallest point where God has spoken, but what a broad distinction there is between religion and piety. See how religious we may be, and yet destitute of every particle of godliness.

Again, what an illustration we have here afforded of the over-ruling providence of God. See how all this was made, in his wisdom, to accomplish what he had determined to be done. In consequence of this very scrupulosity, with all its cold-blooded hypocrisy, they were instrumental in bringing about the fulfilment of God's word. For otherwise the Scripture would not have been accomplished which said, "They shall