nt; but their stony hearts were still unmoved, unoken, and without the least apparent sign of sorrow, awe of the Divine majesty.

This is indeed a most melancholy sight. But let withdraw our eyes from those hardened miscrets, and turn them inwardly on our own hearts. How cen has the death of Jesus Christ been set forth to ? How often has our blessed Saviour, extended on e cross, been so represented to us, as if he had been ucified among us? But are our obdurate hearts ftened or broken by the representation? Is our ubborn evil disposition overcome? In the last Conderation, the prodigies which attended the death of arist, have been illustrated and explained; but what the effect and impression of them on the reader's ind? Has thy carnal heart shook before God, on aring that the earth shook at thy Saviour's death? ast thou been so moved by it, as to beat thy breast d seriously to resolve on returning from the ways injustice and covetousness, of uncleanness and inmperance, of pride and anger?

The Jews therefore now applied to Pilate with a ouble request. They desired of him,

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1. That the crucified bodies might be taken down i om the cross before sun set; and,

2. That their legs might be broken, in order to asten their death; since it was acting contrary to the ws, as well as the dictates of humanity, to take those... ive from the cross, who had been condemned to die.... That the reader may better understand the nature this request of the Jews, it is necessary to observe, at those malefactors who were crucified often died very lingering death; so that it was not an uncom

slaves was not an unusual punishment among the Romans; which was done by laying the legs on an anvil, and breaking them in two with hammers. When this inhuman punishment was inflicted on the crucified malefactors, the wood of the cross to which their feet were nailed served instead of the anvil; and these violent and painful fractures soon brought on their death. By this cruel treatment, they hastened the death of these unhappy malefactors; but at the same time,.. their pain was increased to a very high degree by it. Such an excruciating torture the Jewish rulers, who probably had not yet been informed of Christ's death, would willingly have added to those, which had already been inflicted on the blessed Jesus through their means: For they besought Pilate that his bones might be broken on the cross, as well as those of the two malefactors.

But as these hypocrites had before prostituted their religion, by making it a cloak for their wickedness; so they likewise now alleged to Pilate, That the day of the preparation for that Sabbath which was one of their solemn festivals was at hand; and that it would be profaned, if the unclean bodies of the criminals should be suffered to hang on the cross on that high day.

How great was their accursed hypocrisy! They would not profane the Sabbath; and yet they had put. to death the Lord of the Sabbath, (Luke vi. 5.) and profaned the sanctuary of Israel, as the Messiah is stiled by the prophet, (Isaiah viii. 14.) They would not have the sun set on the bodies of the executed criminals, because it was contrary to the law, (Deut.

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of religion, but makes no account of the essential part of it.

Secondly, The indignity of mutilating the body of Jesus, which the Jews intended, was prevented by Divine providence. After Pilate had given orders that this request of the Jews should be complied with, two soldiers went up to the crosses, and, with iron bars or hammers, broke the legs of the two malefactors who were crucified with Jesus. Hence the penitent outwardly fared no better, than the impenitent thief. They both felt the cruel blows, and both expired in dreadful pangs and convulsions. To the soul of the penitent malefactor our blessed Lord had promised Paradise; but his body, which had been the instrument of his crimes, was to receive its deserts. He was crucified in the flesh; but his soul was preserved. Hence he probably distinguished himself from his abandoned fellow-sufferer by a composed patience, and rejoiced in his heart when he considered, that however painful this hastening of his death was, it would forward his passage into Paradise.

The soldiers, having now dispatched the two malefactors, approached the cross of Jesus, with an intent of putting an end to his life also, by breaking his legs. May we all draw near to the Lord Jesus with a better intention! Let us approach his cross with a broken and contrite heart, that we may rejoice in his salvation, and be upheld with his free Spirit, (Psalm li. 12.)

But the soldiers, observing that Jesus was already dead, which they might easily perceive by the change of his complexion, the cessation of all motion, and his head bowed down to his sacred bosom; 'They did not, saith St. John, break His legs.' Now as the intent of this additional punishment was to put an end

an outrage on his Son's body. God would not suffer our Saviour's legs to be broken, for the following reasons:

First, That it might be manifest, that the sufferings and death of our Redeemer did not proceed from the will and insolence of his enemies; but that he himself had power voluntarily to lay down his life, before any one took it from him, (John x. 18.)

Secondly, That it might appear, that the blessed Jesus, though he was numbered among the transgressors or malefactors, was not of that class. Therefore his heavenly Father caused him to be distinguished from the two malefactors, after his death; since his bones were not broken, and he was honourably buried, neither of which was the case of those who were crucified with him.

Thirdly, That the scripture might be fulfilled, which, as cited by the Evangelist, says, ' A bone of him shall not be broken.'

These words refer,

1. To the type of the Paschal Lamb; concerning which it is said in scripture, (Exod. xii. 46.) Thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad, out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone thereof." From this intimation of the Holy Spirit, here quoted by St. John, it is plain, that the chief view of that Divine ordinance was to prefigure this circumstance of our Saviour's passion, as it was a type of his great sacrifice.

2. We are hereby referred to a passage in the Psalms, (Psalm xxxiv. 19, 20.) where it is said of a particular righteous servant of the Lord, 'That many

and pious man; for many godly persons have experienced the contrary. But if we interpret the words as a prophecy concerning Christ, which the context will very well bear, we may here see the literal accomplishment of them. The following words in the twenty-first verse of this Psalm are likewise applicable to our Saviour's enemies: 'Evil shall slay the wicked, [Jews] and they that hate the righteous [Jesus] shall be desolate; they who called out, his blood be upon us, &c. shall be punished with ruin and desolation. Let us hence deduce the following truths:

1. He who once gives himself up a servant to sin, will be continually incited by it to commit greater

sins.

The enemies of the blessed Jesus were not satisfied with seeing him fastened to the cross; they would not rest till he was actually dead. Their inhuman cruelty was not satisfied though his flesh had been bruised and torn by the scourges and blows; but they solicited the governor, that his bones also might be fractured, the better to compass what they ardently wished, namely, that he should lie down, and rise up no more, (Psalm xl. 8.) Thus they could not restrain their impotent rage against the innocent, though the sun had, as it were, hid his face at the sight of their past wickedness, and the earth had shook and trembled under their feet. Thus, a man is deprived of all his freedom by sin if he suffers it to get the dominion over him; and he becomes a slave of the devil, and a blood-thirsty beast of prey, so that every spark of humanity is gradually extinguished in him. Let us therefore resolutely oppose the first beginnings of sin, and tread under foot the least spark of it that appears, lest it should break out into a flame to the destruction of body and soul.