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Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify him. Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him. And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Prætorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a scull. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not. And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and

saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; (who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him ;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem. And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathæa, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And

Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.

PILATE'S BEHAVIOUR.

WHAT share had Pilate in the guilt of Christ's crucifixion? This need be only so far made a subject of inquiry as to ascertain, whether there be any ground in Scripture for asserting that he was the involuntary and unconscious perpetrator of so great a crime. Certainly, it would have been at variance with God's course of providence that it should have been so. From time to time, the history of His Church and of the world furnishes instances of persons, who, through their very crimes, were made the means of bringing about some of the designs of Providence, and who are even said to be raised up by Him for these purposes. Such, among many, was the king of Babylon, who led the Israelites into captivity. But in no instance does the free agency

of the instrument appear to have received any extraordinary impulse or check, either from the immediate interposition of God, or from the circumstances under which the event was accomplished. In every case, our natural conclusion is, that God chose the instrument because He foresaw the suitableness of his character, not that he made his instrument of that character in accommodation to the event to be accomplished by it. In Pilate's case especially, this will be very evident, if we attend to one or two circumstances in the combined narrative of the four Evangelists.

First then, his wife received a divine warning through a dream, which she communicated to her husband. Without pausing to inquire how it came to pass that a Gentile should receive a revelation, and of this particular kind too, from the true God; it is certain that such was the fact; and that this occurred, not only in this present instance, but in several others on inspired record. To mention no more-there is the case of Pharaoh, who received, even like Pilate's wife, divine communications in dreams. Probably, in all these cases, the persons so visited must have

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had the dream confirmed by a further miraculous sign; else it would have tended, one would think, to encourage a superstitious interpretation of ordinary dreams, already too prevalent in the heathen world. Besides which, the person visited by a dream would (if exempt from such superstition) have naturally neglected to act upon its suggestions, and would have been justified in so doing. By appending some miraculous sign then to these occasional dreams, God might have given an instructive hint to the Gentile, by which he would see at once the distinction between those ordinary dreams to which he had once given credence, and a dream accompanied by its appropriate test. The silence of the historian respecting this sign would be no proof that it was not given; for, if it were the long-established and invariable rule respecting inspired dreams, the mention of it would, on that very account, be the more likely to be omitted. But, however this might be, Pilate's wife certainly was warned by God in a dream, and, through her, Pilate himself.

Secondly, there is much reason to believe, that Pilate must have made sufficient inquiry into

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