THE RELENTING CRUCIFIER.

And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.-Matt. xxvii. 48.

AMONG the friends of Christ we find a relenting crucifier. In companies where we should least expect it, God secures witnesses for himself; and in hearts which appear to be the most unpromising soil, we find the work of the Spirit.

The act performed by this partner of the crucifixion was so very slight, and evinces so little interest in Christ, that his claim to a place among the friends of Christ may naturally be questioned. It is not with the expectation of proving his claim, by any argument founded on his cursory act of kindness, that he is here included in the number of the Saviour's friends; but for the purpose of showing that the infinite condescension of the Saviour, in recognizing a cup of cold water given to one of his disciples in the name of a disciple, as worthy of his reward, and in sparing a bruised reed, and treating with forbearance and hopefulness the smoking flax, may have found an object of grace even among those who were employed to bruise him and put him to grief. It may encourage some to see how slight a feeling of interest in Christhow inconsiderable an act of kindness done for him-may bring a man within the wide circumference of that grace which rejoices in showing mercy where sin has abounded, nor is turned away from scenes the most revolting and hopeless to the

eye of our faith. Besides, if all who befriended Christ were endowed with great talents, or were in affluent circumstances, or if all of them belonged to the intelligent classes of society, or even if they all enjoyed and exercised clear and strong faith, it is easy to see that very many might be discouraged. By including the penitent thief and the relenting crucifier in the number of the Saviour's friends, we feel sure that we act in accordance with the spirit of that "faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," and that "the Son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost."

Crucifixion always occasioned an intolerable thirst. To make the victims insensible, stupefying drinks were humanely offered. Christ refused such a draught, and died with an unclouded mind. His followers may innocently receive alleviations of pain, and use them, even to the suspension of their consciousness, if they choose, or their friends so determine for them; but the manner in which Christ chose to meet death, illustrates the common reflection of suffering Christians, that their pains are not to be compared with those which Christ endured on their account; while it should serve to strengthen them for "all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness."

The dreadful scenes and agonies of the cross drew near their end. The last act of the Saviour's life was to commend his mother to the beloved disciple, who was standing near the cross, and who thus continues the account of the scene: "After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst."

The seeming digression will not be found inconsistent with unity of effect, if we consider here the wonderful minuteness with which the sufferings of Christ were foretold, and their extreme coincidence with the predictions.

As soon as Christ was nailed to the cross, the soldiers, rapacious and poor, seized upon his garments, which his crucifiers had stripped from him, and as there were four of these soldiers, probably, who were detailed to attend the execution, they apportioned his garments between them; his coat, making a fifth portion, consisting of one piece of cloth without a seam, fell to one of them by lot.

Who but Omniscience could have foreseen that little incident of division, and the casting of the lot in the distribution of the Saviour's garments? What a wonderful book the Bible appears to be! the more wonderful the more minutely it is examined. God is in it, as in nature, wherever the eye rests or penetrates.

With respect to the manner in which the bodies of the three victims on those crosses were treated, there is the same remarkable fulfilment of prophecy. The Jews were unwilling that the bodies of men crucified should remain on the cross during the Sabbath; indeed, it was their custom always to remove a crucified body from the cross before sundown; but the near approach of the Sabbath, beginning at six o'clock of the preceding afternoon, made them anxious to dispose of the bodies without delay. They therefore begged the Roman governor, that the usual mode of hastening death might be resorted to; viz., a violent breaking of the legs of the victims. By this means, the two thieves were hastened out of the world. When

they came to Christ to do the same, they found that he was already dead. Whether his death took place before the thieves had, either or both of them, died, does not appear; but at least, when they were dead, it was found that he was dead, and they therefore brake not his legs.

In this apparently simple incident we find a proof of Christ's atoning sacrifice, as our passover slain for us. Among the directions for offering and eating the passover lamb, this is given: Neither shall ye break a bone thereof." It was to be eaten in haste, while the family stood round the table girded for a journey, with their shoes upon them, and their staves in their hands. They must not wait to break the bones; and the delay which it would occasion was the immediate, the obvious, reason for that commandment.

But there was a deeper reason why the limbs of Christ should not be broken. That body must not be mutilated in one degree more than the necessities of crucifixion required. That body was to ascend into heaven; it must preserve its perfectness, except so far as the instruments of death should fix their prints in it. The breaking of any of the limbs of Christ would for ever have conveyed to the mind the idea of weakness, which would subtract from certain associations which it seemed desirable should be connected with his

body. He must be crucified in weakness; " but no needless indignity must be offered to his person. Therefore a bone of him must not be broken. He was not set to honour the paschal lamb; but the paschal lamb was appointed to honour him, and therefore, that the passover lamb might be like Christ, it was ordered that the Israelites

should not break one of its bones. Again we are struck with the wonderful character of the Bible, in its minute points. While the thieves had their bones broken, it was appointed that the Saviour should not need it to hasten his death; and so he escaped this indignity, and thus fulfilled the type of the lamb at the passover.

But to make it certain that he was dead, a soldier, having a spear, thrust it into his side, and forthwith there came out blood and water." This, according to the testimony of medical men, would have produced death had he not been already dead; the mingled blood and water coming from the region of the heart, where the spear had pierced. Again, another scripture saith, "They shall look on him whom they have pierced!"

All these prophecies were familiar to Christ, and the knowledge of them bore him through his sufferings until they were finished. One suffering, one pang only, remained; one prophetic touch in the picture of his agony alone, was yet to be fulfilled. "Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, said, I thirst."

This was necessary to prove that his sufferings were the ordinary sufferings of the cross. Had there been no thirst, as there always was in other cases, the inference would have been that he did not suffer, but was supported and relieved by supernatural power, and so did not "bear our sins in his own body on the tree." But that cup must not pass from him except he drink it. The sufferings of Christ are portrayed by David. Among them we read: "In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink." Jesus said, "I thirst."

It was