Luke xxiii.40.

Luke xxiii.41.

Luke xxiii.42.

Luke xxiii.43.

But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.

And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.

Jerusalem.

John xix, 25.

John xix. 26.

John xix. 27.

SECTION XXII.

Christ commends his Mother to the care of John.

JOHN Xix. 25, 26, 27.

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of * Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

*Or, Clopas. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

SECTION XXIII.

The Death of Christ, and its attendant Circumstances.

MATT. xxvii. 45, 52, 54-57.

Mark xv. 33.

MARK XV. 33-42. LUKE

xxiii. 44-50. JOHN XIX. 28-38.

And when the sixth hour was come,

Lukexxiii.44. there was a darkness over all the earth until the † Or, land. ninth hour.

bitter tauntings of the rabble, and, in the midst of derision and suffering, to declare our faith in a crucified Saviour. When Christ shall again become visible to man, He will be seen in his glory, and all the holy angels with him. Let no man therefore be guilty of delaying repentance, with the hope of eventual salvation, because the penitent thief was forgiven at the last. The account of the pardoned criminal is related by one Evangelist only, as if the Holy Spirit foresaw the perversion of the passage. "One instance only," to use the language of a celebrated divine, "of the acceptance of a dying repentance is recorded; one, that none might despair, and only one, that none might presume."

Jerusalem,

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud Mark xv. 34. voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani"?

27 ON OUR LORD'S EXCLAMATION ON THE CROSS.

Dr. Edwards thinks that the words were repeated twice. The commentators have been much divided as to their signification. Rosenmüller considers the words of our Lord as an expression of suffering, and of prayer, which he appropriated to himself. Such also is the opinion of Dr. Pye Smith, who both in his excellent discourse on the Atonement, and in his work on the Person of Christ, considers the words as connected with the sequel and general design of the Psalm, of which it is the commencement, and expressing the extinction of all present and sensible comfort. Such also is the generally received opinion, and the writers in the Critici Sacri, on Matt. xxvii. 46. interpret the passage in a similar

manner.

Lightfoot, however, has proposed another interpretation of our Lord's exclamation; he would read it, not, "Why hast thou forsaken me, or left me to the feeling of any spiritual desertion;" but, "Why hast thou left me to such hands, and to such cruel usage?"

Dr. A. Clarke is likewise inclined to favour this interpretation. The exclamation of our Lord (Matt. xxvii. 46.) he would thus render: "How astonishing is the wickedness of those persons, into whose hands I have fallen." God is said in Scripture to do, what he permits to be done, and no decisive argument can be drawn therefore from the expression to prove that he was deserted by his Father. He confirms this interpretation from Mark xv. 34; the words of which passage, he observes, agree pretty nearly with this translation of the Hebrew-Eis Ti μe kykatéλimes; "to what (sort of persons, understood,) hast thou left me?" A literal translation of the passage in the Syriac Testament gives a similar sense : Ad quid dereliquisti me?" To what hast thou abandoned me?" And an ancient copy of the old Itala version, a Latin translation before the time of St. Jerome, renders the words thus: Quare me in opprobrium dedisti?" Why hast thou abandoned me to reproach ?"

"It may be objected, that this can never agree with the ivari, why,' of Matthew. To this it is answered, that ivari must have here the same meaning as siç rí, as the translation of, lama; and that if the meaning be at all different, we must follow that Evangelist who expresses most literally the meaning of the original: and let it be observed, that the Septuagint often translate na by ivari, instead of siç ri, which evidently proves that it often had the same meaning. Whatever may be thought of the above mode of interpretation, one thing is certain, that the words could not be used by our Lord in the sense in which they are generally understood. This is sufficiently evident; for he well knew why he was come unto that hour, nor could he be forsaken of God, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The Deity, however, might restrain so much of its consolatory support, as to leave the human nature fully sensible of all its sufferings; so that the consolations might not take off any part of the keen edge of his passion: and this was necessary to make his sufferings meritorious. And it is probable, that this is all that is intended by our Lord's quotation from the twenty-second Psalm. Taken in this view, the words convey an unexceptionable sense, even in the common translation (a).”

(a) Edwards, ap. Doddridge in loc. Smith's Discourse on the Atonement, p. 34, 35; and Scripture Testimony, &c. vol. ii. part i. p. 357. Rosenmuller in loc. Lightfoot, 8vo. edit. vol. viii. p. 167. A. Clarke, in Matt. xxvii. 46.

Mat. xxvii.46. Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?

Mark xv. 34. which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Mark xv. 35.

John xix. 28.

John xix. 29.

Mat. xxvii.48.

And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.

f

Jerusalem.

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be f Ps. lxix. 21. fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar :

And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar,

John xix. 29. and put it upon hyssop,

Mat. xxvii.48.

and put it on a reed, John xix. 29. and put it to his mouth, Mat. xxvii.48. and gave him to drink.

Mat.xxvii.49.

The rest said, Let be; let us see whether Elias will come to save him,

Mark xv. 36. will come to take him down.

John xix. 30.

Mat. xxvii.50.

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished ".

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice,

Lukexxiii.46. he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my g Ps. xxxi. 5. spirit and having said thus,

John xix. 30. he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost".

Mat. xxvii.51.

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain

28 In John xix. 28. we read, "Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst ;" and now, that he hath taken the vinegar, he said, "It is finished," that is, this act was the last circumstance that remained to be fulfilled of all the ancient prophecies and predictions. He took the proffered cup of vinegar, and thereby closed and sealed, by his blood, the Levitical Dispensation, and brought in a more perfect "They gave me gall for my meat, in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink," Ps. lxix. 21. Even the most minute circumstances of our Saviour's life and death were foretold by the spirit of prophecy many centuries before his birth, and they have all been literally and absolutely fulfilled. See the eloquent passages of Taylor, Horsley, and Porteus, on this section.

one.

29 It is singular that our translators have not observed the three modes of expression which the Evangelists have here adopted. Mark and Luke say ἐξεπνεύσε, “ he expired.” John xix. 30. παρέδωκε τὸ πνεῦμα, “ he yielded up his spirit." Matthew xxviii. 50. άpñкe tò πveũμa, “he dismissed his spirit." The spirits of mere men are in general violently separated from the body, in a way over which they can have no control: it was for our Lord only to die as the Prince of Life, by an act of supernatural power, and to separate, at his own pleasure, and at his own command, the spirit from the body.

Jerusalem.

in the midst,

Lukexxiii.45.

from the top to the bottom; and the earth did Mat. xxvii.51. quake, and the rocks rent;

And the graves were opened: Now when the centurion which stood over against him,

Mat.xxvii.52.

Mat. xxvii.54.

Mark xv. 39.

and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw Mat.xxvii.54. the earthquake, and those things that were done,

saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, Mark xv. 39. they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Mat. xxvii.54. Son of God;

he glorified God, saying, Certainly, this was a Lukexxiii.47. righteous man.

And all the people that came together to that Lukexxiii.48. sight, beholding the things which were done,

smote their breasts, and returned,

And all his acquaintance, and the women that Lukexxiii.49. followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, behold

ing these things.

among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the Mark xv. 40.
mother of James the less and of Joses, and
Salome,

the mother of Zebedee's children.

Mat. xxvii.56.

h Luke viii. 3. who also, when he was in Galilee, followed Mark xv. 41. him, and ministered unto him; and many other women, which came up with him unto Jerusa

i Exod. xii. 46.

lem.

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath-day (for that sabbathday was an high-day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

John xix. 31.

Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of John xix. 32. the first, and of the other which was crucified

with him.

But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he John xix. 33. was dead already, they brake not his legs :

But one of the soldiers, with a spear, pierced John xix. 34. his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and

water.

And he that saw it bare record, and his record John xix. 35. is true and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.

:

For these things were done that the Scripture John xix. 36. Num. xii, 12. should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be

Psal. xxxiv.

20.

broken.

John xix. 37.

k

k Zech. xii, 10.

And again, another Scripture saith, They Jerusalem. shall look on him whom they pierced.

MATT. xxvii. ver. 45. part of ver. 46. ver. 47. part of ver. 50. ver. 55. and part of ver. 56,

45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 1

47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.

50 yielded up the ghost

55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him;

56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and

MARK XV. part of ver. 33. 36. ver. 37, 38. and part of ver. 39, 40.

33-there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 36 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

37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.

38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bot

tom.

39 And when the centurion-he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. 40 There were also women looking on afar off.

LUKE Xxiii. part of ver. 44, 45, 46, 47.

44 And it was about the sixth hour

45 And the sun was, darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent-
46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice-he gave up the ghost.
47 Now when the centurion saw what was done-

JOHN xix. part of ver. 29, 30.

29 and they filled a sponge with vinegar

1 Ps. xxii. 1

30-and