and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Mark adds another incident, which it is interesting to contrast with this. He says they "gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, and he received it not." This it is supposed was offered to him by his friends, in order to render him partly insensible to the pain of crucifixion. But he received it not. He was a willing sufferer. The vinegar and the gall, on the other hand, though offered by the hand of an enemy and not a friend, and in hatred, not love, was received by him, as he was resolved not to leave one scripture unfulfilled, or one drop of the cup of sorrow untasted.

And once more, the accomplishment of two other predictions at this time is recorded in the chapter before us, verses 31-37: "A bone of him shall not be broken:" and "They shall look on him whom they pierced." How wonderful it is to mark these minute confirmations of the scriptures of the Old Testament which had spoken of Jesus, and intimated his sufferings. How fearfully was that prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled in the persons of those who failed to trace, in the agonies and death of Jesus, the gathering up of their own inspired records in all those remarkable points in which they directed attention to the Messiah: "Go unto this people and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed." Beloved, may we take warning by them, and with devout attention, with the hearing ear, and the understanding heart, take heed unto "the sure word of prophecy, as unto a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in our hearts.”

Let us now attend to the words which our Divine Re

deemer uttered as he hung upon the cross. We have

already noticed what he said as they were raising him. upon the tree. His next exclamation was one which exhibited the fearful travail of soul in which he was for a season exercised: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." It is in vain for us to seek to inquire into the nature of this suffering; suffice it to say, it was part of his meritorious passion, a passion which he alone could know, and which he alone could endure. The believer knows seasons in his experience when his heavenly Father hides his countenance from him, and he is sometimes tempted to ery, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" but he is never permitted to write such a bitter thing against himself, as that God has forsaken him." In his moments of deepest sorrow and spiritual depression, when he is going softly in the bitterness of his soul, he has always before him the glorious promise of his God to the church, so full of light, and love, and peace: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Again did the voice of the suffering Jesus sound from the tree of ignominy. But how different were the tones of that voice. The agony of his burdened spirit had passed away, and the triumphant satisfaction of his perfected work caused him to breathe forth the cry of victory, "It is finished!" Oh what words of deep eternal moment. Surely the hosts of heaven caught the sounds of joy, and awakened the wide vault of glory, with a new and thrilling burst of exultation and joy. Surely the sound reached the dark regions of despair, and shook them as with the thunderbolt of omnipotence!

"It is finished." The trials of the " man of sorrows are at an end. No longer shall the sigh of anguish break from his breast-no longer shall the tear tremble in his eye-the agonizing prayer shall not again be poured forth, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me!" "It is

finished!" The brightest and the darkest scene ever witnessed in this world is concluded. If there is a bright page in this world's history, it is when Christ trod the streets of Jerusalem, or went from city to city among the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And if there is a black spot of infamy in the records of mankind, it is the crucifying of him whose life was spent in doing good. And now the one is at an end, the other consummated. Jesus, "the Light of the world," returns where he was before; and the last blow of wickedness is inflicted on the stricken Lamb.

His glorious work was finished. He kept the whole law; he did the will of God;-" he fulfilled all righteousness;"he cast out the prince of this world; he destroyed principalities and powers of darkness;-he made an end of their usurped dominion;-he broke Satan's sceptre, and beat him back to his den of despair, there to be held in chains to the judgment of the great day;-he completed our salvation, and "perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Oh let us strive and pray, that as our Lord thus finished his work of merit on the cross, so also he may finish his work of grace in each of our hearts, until we are complete in him," and "made perfect in one."

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And as Jesus had a word of triumph for the universe to hear, so had he a word of submission to his Father;

Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and having said this he gave up the ghost." The original expression in St. Matthew's Gospel is very forcible :-" He dismissed his spirit;" not as one who sunk under a power which he could not resist, but as a glorious conqueror, acting according to his own mighty and uncontrolled will. He had power to lay down his life, and he had power to take it again. So when the season arrived, which was appointed and set of the Father, when all was finished, he dismissed

his spirit, and the body of Jesus hung lifeless on the cross. His body remained to be committed to the grave, to await the glories of the resurrection; his spirit departed to the Father, to those mansions of glory to which he had so shortly before alluded: "I come to thee."

But we have the record of more that Jesus uttered from the tree of death, than those words which we have just now considered. There were two incidents which occurred during his crucifixion, in which he manifested forth his glory by the fulness of his saving grace in plucking "a brand from the burning," and by the tenderness of his love to his own people.

Two criminals were crucified at his side. One reviled and blasphemed him; the other at that awful moment turned to the suffering Jesus, and with a heart melted to the deepest emotion by the power of God's Spirit, cried, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." What will not the power of grace effect! The hardened malefactor recognized the glory of salvation in the bloody wounds of the suffering Jesus. What a sudden flood of light must have been poured into his heart, when he was able to see in the blood of the dying Lamb, the fulness of redemption! What maturity of faith he was enabled at once to exhibit ;-" Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom!" To see the King of kings under such an outward garb of woe! What deep humility-"Remember me." All he hoped for was to be not forgotten. Any place, the most remote, the meanest he desired, so that it was in "thy kingdom." What zeal! rebuking his wicked companion, and testifying to him and to all around of the glory of him who was crucified.

The cry was not unheard; the appeal was not in vain. He who had touched the heart, sprinkled it with the merits.

of his sacrifice, and opened the gates of heaven to the repentant prodigal, "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Not far off, not at a great distance, but with me, beholding my glory, reflecting my glory, and entering into the fulness of my joy. Surely if there is always joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, there must have been a loud hallelujah ringing through the courts of God when the Lord of heaven appeared with this, as it were, the first fruits of his finished work, one of the chiefest of sinners saved.

Can we refrain from carrying forward our regards from the cross of suffering on Calvary, to the throne of judgment in the clouds of heaven? He who hung suspended on the cross between two criminals, shall yet again be placed between the same persons:-but how altered will every circumstance then be! He shall be "in his kingdom" he shall be set upon his throne, "all power given him in heaven and earth." On his right hand the penitent thief shall stand, with all his sins blotted out, and shining as a star in the firmament of glory; on his left shall be the hardened and impenitent criminal, not then uttering his blasphemous imprecations, but his tongue silenced for ever under the awful conviction of the righteousness of that sentence which shall appoint his portion with the wicked throughout eternity.

And now turn to the other incident of which we have spoken. Among the very few who loved the Saviour, and who still clung to him even in that dreadful hour, when he was compassed by his enemies, was Mary the wife of Joseph the mother of our Lord. Doubtless she was then experiencing the fulfilment of old Simeon's prophecy, "Yea a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also." Oh what conflicting emotions must have passed through