on him the iniquities of us all: and he had undertaken to suffer and to die for us. Therefore he was led as a lamb, unresisting and unopposing, to the slaughter. He laid down his life. No man took it from him. He laid it down of himself. He had power to lay it down, and he had power to take it again. He had this power from the Father.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! We were in misery, and Christ helped us. He bore our griefs, and carried our sorrows. By the stripes given to him, our great Master, we, his poor, sinful servants, have been for ever healed.

And now to God, &c.

LECTURE LXXXI.

ST. MATTHEW xxvii. 50.

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

AFTER Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, had scourged Jesus, he delivered him, we read, to be crucified. And yet, my brethren, Pontius Pilate proclaimed him a just person, and endeavoured, if possible, to clear himself of all blame in yielding to the wishes of a furious mob. As soon as our blessed Lord was given up to the anger and cruelty of the people, he began to suffer a great deal of the most un

The soldiers, who

worthy treatment. were on guard at the Governor's palace, began the cruel usage. These unfeeling men stripped him of his own plain' and modest garments, and put on him a scarlet robe. This was intended as a mockery at him for calling himself a king. And a king he was, though not such a king as they had an idea of. His kingdom was not of this world. He is the king of our souls. Others are kings of our bodies. The souls of men are his: and whenever such souls love him and strive to be like him, they will be sure of being happy in heaven. To make a mock of his being a king, the soldiers put on him a scarlet robe (for clothes of a red colour were always worn by kings), and when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. They also put a reed in his right hand, which reed was to be in the stead of a sceptre, and after they had thus foolishly dressed him off, they completed the cruel mockery by bowing their kness

to him, and addressing him as king of the Jews. Such were the taunts and the sneers, which the blessed Jesus received from the lips of men-of men, whom He left Heaven in order to save from hell. But their ill treatment was not confined to words. When people of base minds gain their ends, there is nothing too low for them to use in order to complete their triumph. Thus these brutal soldiers, having Jesus in their power, and knowing that the Jews would be the better pleased with them, the more they made him suffer, went so far as to spit on him, and to take the reed, which they had given him, and to smite him on the head with it. This is a sample of what Jesus suffered. For a crown of prickly thorns must have been very painful, and blows on a wounded head must have added to the torture. And his mind must have suffered more than his body. For to find himself an object of scorn-to be treated with contempt, where he was endeavouring to do good,

must have been very afflicting to his tender and noble mind.

After these shameful indignities had been practised on him, they led him out to the place of execution. When they had reached the place, they gave him vinega to drink, mingled with gall. This was intended, and was always given for the purpose, to stupify him-to make him insensible to the torture he was about to undergo. For crucifixion was a very torturing and lingering death. Our Lord would not taste the drink offered to him. He knew what he should suffer, but his mind was strong enough to bear it all. It was now that they put him on the cross. This was made of wood. One piece was fixed upright in the ground, and the other crosswise on the top of it. To the piece across, his hands, being stretched out, were nailed; and his feet to the upright piece. What pain it must have given to the