and bruises He had received, and so fatigued with the load of such a large piece of timber, that He was not able to proceed so fast as they desired, especially considering w little ti me they had before them to finish their work. And as He was advancing slowly to the place of execution, they met on the road a poor African, who was a native of Cyrene, named Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who afterwards became Christians, and were of some note in the church; this Simon at that time was passing by, as he came out of the country to Jerusalem, and they immediately laid hold on him as one fit for their purpose, finding him a strong man, and it may be, suspecting that he was a favourer of Jesus, and, pretending that the authority of the Roman governor empowered them to press any they met for this service, they compelled him to carry at least one end of his cross: and, accordingly, on him they laid the cross that he might carry it after Jesus.

"And a great multitude of people crowded after him to see the crucifixion, and particularly a considerable number of women, who had attended his ministry with great delight, followed him on this sad occasion, who were so tenderly affected with the moving sight, that they not only pitied him in their hearts, but also vented their concern in tears, and bewailed and lamented him in a very affectionate manner. But Jesus turning to them, said, Alas! ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves, and for your children, (no torture of body, or agony of mind, for a moment diminishing his perfect benevolence.)

"At length they arrived at the place of execution: and when they were come thither, even to the place which is called Golgotha, a little without the city, on Mount Calvary, which was the usual place for executing criminals, and seemed a proper spot of ground for the purpose, as on account of its eminence the malefactors crucified there might be seen at a considerable distance, and by a great number of spectators, they proceeded to the fatal purpose for which they came and as it was customary to give to dying criminals a potion of strong wine mingled with spices to cheer their spirits, and render them less sensible of their sufferings, the soldiers who attended him, that they might embitter his sufferings by every aggravation their cruelty could invent, gave him, as foretold by the noble Sufferer's earthly progenitor they would, gall to eat, and when thirsty, (as the torments He was now enduring probably made him in the extremest degree,) gave him vinegar to drink, and when He tasted thereof He would not drinkthereby giving an everlasting blow to that gloomy superstitition (infused by the power of darkness into the darkened mind of man, in direct opposition to the word of God,)* which appears to harbour a confused supposition that the Father of all mercies would approve and reward as meritorious, the endurance of self-inflicted sufferings. The cup which was given the glorious vindicator of his great Father's honour, by his Almighty Father, He drank to the deepest dregs. But the

* We shall in a future page abundantly prove the truth of this assertion.

cup that man mixed for him, and which He possessed the power to refuse, He would not or did not drink. On the other hand, when they gave him to drink generous wine mingled with myrrh and other spices, He would not receive this cordial cup; it is supposed it was provided by some of his friends to support him on this sad occasion.* But He did not receive it, determining to bear the full force of his pains unallayed by any such preparation, and to maintain his thoughts in the most vigorous exercise." Besides, had He drank it, artful insinuations may have been circulated that He thereby had had his feelings blunted and his death accelerated. Though He would not increase his sufferings when He could avoid it, He rejected mitigation from the hand of man.

"And it was now the third hour of the day, or nine o'clock in the morning, when they thus brought him to Mount Calvary; and there, when all things were made ready, they nailed his hands and his feet to the cross and crucified him. And

*

"(They gave him wine to drink mingled with myrrh.) Some think this was sour wine, called vinegar by Matthew; but I apprehend the reasons which Dr. Edwards has produced sufficiently prove that this wine, mingled with myrrh, was a different mixture from the vinegar and gall which He received so far as to taste it. Probably those pious women, some of them (as the story shows) persons in plentiful circumstances, whose zeal engaged them to follow him to Calvary, and afterwards so liberally to prepare unguents and aromatic drugs for his embalming, had provided on this sad occasion some rich wine tempered with choice spices, which with perfect propriety He refused to taste, lest malice should insinuate He intended thereby to render himself insensible of the terrors of death."

they also crucified with him the two malefactors, or robbers, that were mentioned before, the one on his right-hand, and the other on his left; and they placed Jesus in the midst as a mark of the greatest indignity, to prejudice the multitude the more against him-and to induce them to regard him as the most infamous criminal of the three. And thus the Scriptures were fulfilled. (Isa. liii. 12.) And He was numbered with the transgressors. And Jesus made no manner of resistance to this cruel violence, nor did He revile them even when they were distorting his limbs as on a rack, and nailing his hands and his feet on the full stretch to the accursed tree; but in the midst of his anguish He breathed out his soul in a compassionate prayer for his murderers; and pleading the only excuse which the most extensive charity could suggest, He said, Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." Thus was evil gloriously overcome by good; thus was full perfection gloriously demonstrated by the Lamb without blemish, and without spot.

"Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, which according to custom they had stripped off, that the shame of suffering naked might be added to all the agony of the cross; and as it was usual for the executioners to have the garments of the criminal whom they put to death, they made four parts of his clothes, assigning to each soldier of the quaternion employed on that occasion a part, and casting lots upon them which of the four each man should take. And they took also the vest or

inner garment now the vest had this curious circumstance attending it, that it was without any seam at all, being woven from the top throughout in one whole piece ;* and as this was considered by them as more valuable than ordinary, they said therefore one to another, Let us not spoil this coat, as we must do if we go about to tear it into four parts, but let us cast lots for it, whose the whole of it shall be. And accordingly they did so, that the Scripture spoken by the prophet David in the person of the Messiah might thus be literally fulfilled, which saith, (Psal. xxii. 18,) They divided my garments among them, and cast lots for my vesture.* These things therefore the soldiers did, though

*" (Woven from the top throughout in one whole piece.) Perhaps this curious garment might be the work and present of some of the pious women who attended him, and ministered to him of their substance. (Luke viii. 3.) The hint here given of its make has set some mechanical heads to work to contrive a frame for weaving such a vest; and a good cut of it may be seen in Calmet's Dictionary, on the word vestments. (Vol. iii. page 19.)

* 66

(They divided my garments among them, &c.) We are no where told that David's goods were thus divided, and there are several other passages in the 22nd Psalm, particularly that in which mention is made of piercing his hands and his feet, to which no circumstance of David's personal sufferings seems to have borne any resemblance. It therefore seems to me exceeding probable, that in this scripture and some others, the mind of the prophet was thrown into a preternatural ecstacy, in which, on some secret intimation given to him that he therein personated the Messiah, he wrote expressly what the Spirit dictated, without any particular regard to himself; so that David might, for any thing I can find, with equal propriety have written such a Psalm, if his whole life had been as prosperous and peaceable as the reign of Solomon his son. (Compare 1 Pet. i. 10—12)”

VOL. III.

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