blasphemously spake they against him,' (Luke xxii. 65.) Hence we may conclude that this specimen of the abusive words, which our blessed Saviour was obliged to hear on the cross, were but a part of the invectives poured out against him. Now all these opprobrious words are to be looked on as so many envenomed arrows, discharged against the heart of the blessed Jesus by the prince of darkness, by means of the tongues of these scoffers. His soul, indeed, was not in the least polluted by them, but it was extreme ly wounded and tortured. In these opprobrious words, they,

First, Derided his truth and omnipotence, saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days; save thyself and come down from the cross!' The preceding night, when Jesus stood before the Sanhedrim, the Jews had very much abused these words of our blessed Lord, and scandalously perverted them by the tongues of their false witnesses. Here they are again cast in his teeth; and it is not improbable that those very false witnesses, who had slanderously perverted these innocent words of Jesus, here began again to reproach him with the same words which were immediately catched by others among the multitude, who seconded those perjured scoffers in their revilings. By this, their intention was to expose our blessed Lord as a chimerical boaster, and one who pretended to perform great things, when at the same time, he was not able to make good his mighty pretensions. Thus they impiously perverted his words, and ridiculed his omnipotence. Thus the Eternal Truth submitted to pass for a liar, and the power of the Most High was accounted a vain, impotent man.

Secondly, They derided the honour of the eternal Sonship of Jesus Christ. "They who passed by said, if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. But in this the chief Priests and Elders had already set them a pattern by saying, 'If he be Christ,

the chosen of God, let him come down from the cross; for he said, I am the Son of God.' Thus as our blessed Saviour had twice confessed before the Sanhedrim, that he was the Son of God; so was he twice mocked and ridiculed for it on the cross; namely, by the people, and by their teachers. Satan had formerly begun his temptation with this article, saying, 'If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down,' (Matt. iv. 6.) Here the instruments of satan say, "If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.' From the resemblance betwixt these words, it is manifest, that satan himself vented them here by his engines, and thus challenged the Son of God, to come down from the cross, and attest the truth of his eternal Sonship by a miracle. That very action would, on the contrary, have proved him not to be the obedient Son of the heavenly Father. For by coming down alive from the cross, on which he was to die, he would have disobeyed his Father; who required from him obedience unto death, even the death of the cross.

Thirdly, These miscreants ridiculed the Divine miracles wrought by our blessed Lord, by which he had sealed his doctrines, and relieved such multitudes of unhappy persons. For the rulers of the people, by saying, 'He has saved others, himself he cannot save,' intended to render the truth of all his former miracles suspected, and to represent them as mere juggle or magical performances. This was the inference they drew, that if his miracles proceeded from God, he would be able to help himself as well as others; but it was plain he could not help himself, and therefore his miracles did not proceed from God. As if they had said to the people who doubtless crowded about these eminent persons, see what a pretended worker of miracles Jesus is, who was followed by thousands: He has helped others; but now he cannot help himself in this extremity. Does not this plainly shew that he is a cheat, who absolutely impos

ed on your senses by sham miracles?' But it is very remarkable, that our blessed Lord in the very first year of his ministry had foretold, that he should one day be thus insulted: Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself,' (Luke iv. 23.) This prophecy of the Lord Jesus was here fulfilled by his enemies; so that the sting of this offence is ta ken away. Thus our blessed Saviour did not want power to help himself, and yet did not exert that power, that he might help us; and consequently he preferred our deliverance to his own.

Fourthly, Our blessed Lord's confidence in his heavenly Father was here ridiculed. He trusted in God say the rulers of the people, let him deliver him now, if he will have him', i. e. if God has pleasure in him, and acknowledges him for his Son; For he said, I am the Son of God.' They recollected that Christ, in his Divine discourses, had often expressed a singular confidence in his heavenly Father, and declared that he loved him, (John iii. 35. viii. 16, 29, 50, 54. xvi. 52, &c.) that he sought and promoted his honour: that he did not leave him alone; that he was with him, and assisted him, &c. From such expressions these malignant spiders suck the poison of calumny; and thus endeavour to overset our Saviour's confidence in his Father, and as it were to cut away the anchor, by which the bark of his hope was still secured, though quite covered with outrageous waves, tossed in the most dreadful tempest. It is further remarkable, that almost the very words used by these scoffers are found in the Psalms, where the Messiah is represented complaining, that his enemies say of him, 'He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, if he delight in him." (Psalm xxii. the Scripture

8.) Thus they unknowingly fulm

by this impious speech.

Fifthly, They here ridiculed the kingly dignity of Jesus Christ. For the chief Priests and Elders said, 'Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the

cross, that we may see and believe. The Roman soldiers followed their impious example, and said, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.' If thou intendest by thy military prowess to deliver the Jews from the dominion of the Romans, deliver thyself first, and thus give a proof of thy great power. Our blessed Saviour had acknowledged himself to be the King of Israel before Pilate; and upon this account Pilate, in the title on the cross, stiled him, JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS. Now as it was out of the power of the chief Priests to erase the superscription, which was a great offence to them, and as they could not prevail on Pilate to alter it; this put them on ridiculing it, by saying, If he be the King of Israel, as he is stiled in the superscription over his head, written in three languages, let him prove it by coming down from the cross. To this they added, by way of derision, a promise that then they would believe on him; though at the same time nothing was farther from their thoughts. And, indeed, if Christ, in order to induce them to believe on him, had actually descended from the cross, they would in all probability have imputed this miracle likewise to sorcery.

Sixthly and lastly, Our blessed Lord's office, of Messiah was ridiculed by these miscreants; the chief Priests cried out, Let him save himself, if he be the Christ, or Messiah. One of the crucified malefactors took this from their abusive mouths, and railed on him, saying If thou be Christ save thyself and us. As if he had said, as thou didst pretend to be the Messiah, help thyself and us; for if thou wilt come down from the cross, surely thou wilt not leave us thy fellow-sufferers behind. Thus whatever was venerable, great, and glorious in the person of the Lord Jesus was here the subject of the most scurrilous reflections of profane scoffers. His Omnipotence, his eternal Sonship, his Divinity, his Divine miracles, his confidence in his heavenly Father, his

regal dignity, and his office of Messiah, were all exposed to ridicule and mockery. We shall conclude this consideration by deducing the following truths from what has been said on this subject.

1. The opprobrious words, by which the blessed Jesus was insulted, are to be accounted among satan's severe temptations.

When satan, at the beginning of our Saviour's ministry, had been repulsed by our Lord, it is said, ‘he departed from him for a season,' (Luke iv. 13.) Now, at the close of his life, he returns to the charge, and enters into these his engines, as he anciently did into Goliath, to prompt them to blaspheme the God of Israel. His design was, by these abusive and deriding words, to try whether he could throw our blessed Lord's temper into some disorder, and move him to a passionate impatience; or whether he could excite in him a desire of giving a proof of his omnipotence, by coming down from the cross; by which means the whole counsel of God, concerning our salvation, would have been frustrated, and the work of redemption would have miscarried. But as the Son of God remained faithful in the first trial, which he underwent immediately after his baptism; so he shewed the same firmness in this last encounter on the cross. But the great Captain of our salvation submitted to this trial, that he might triumph over satan, notwithstanding his utmost efforts and severest outrages; that he might bruise his head, extract the venomous sting of his temptations; and obtain for us strength to remain firm in all trials, and to come off more than conquerors.

2. When the faithful servants of God are under outward sufferings, satan and his engines are most busy to vex their minds with opprobrious words, and insolent challenges.

Thus, no sooner was the Son of God nailed to the cross, than his soul was assaulted by the reviiings of his enemies. This is the way satan and his engines frequently proceed with Christ's members. When