B. And they that passed by blasphemed.

Hence, we may assume, that when the Priests go down from the plateau-from the place of Calvary, the sacred sanctuary-some of the crowd come up, and walk past the holy Cross, looking on Him Whom they have pierced: as we see men do still when there is some public spectacle in the street or square. They cannot tarry long; they must move on, that others may come and see: For out of many hearts thoughts shall to-day be revealed.

C. A few are mourning as one mourneth for an only son. But the many are crying, Vah! The Princes have said, Vah! Therefore the people say the same. All we like sheep have gone astray. Wo to the world, our Saviour said, earnestly and sadly, because of scandals (St. Matt. xviii.). One of the terrible scandals of this world is the bad influence of men who by position, or riches, or talents, or assurance and boldness, become leaders.

D. And they that passed by.

Let us consider, too, in our hearts, that Calvary and the everlasting sacrifice have not vanished away. All of us must still walk past the Holy Rood of Jesus crucified, and make our choice whether He is to be our resurrection or our fall, whether at the Judgment we are to be placed on His right hand or His left. From each one's heart his thought and his choice must be revealed.

Inter oves locum præsta,
Et ab hædis me sequestra,
Statuens in parte dextra.

Place for me, Good Shepherd, keep
On Thy right, among Thy sheep;
With the goats, oh, curse me not.

E. And the soldiers also mocked Him.

These strangers have no quarrel with Jesus. They mock Him (1) because they have been flattered by the Priests; (2) because they have earned money by torturing Him; (3) because they may win a little more blood-money by mocking Him; (4) because the appetite for cruelty grows by indulgence; (5) because that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth. The same baseness that leads us

to crouch down and degrade ourselves before a leader, inclines us also to despise the weak and helpless.

Our Lord Jesus, on the contrary, resists the proud; is fearless before these Rulers; but has infinite charity for the weak and the little.

F. And the soldiers mocked Him.

If the Jews had been worthy of their religion, they might have gained over their masters, the Romans. The men around us, who are outside the Church, form their ideas of Christ's religion from what they see in us. A man when he marries often tries to better his life, because now, he says, "others depend on me". Many others depend on us Catholics. We are watched and noticed; our words, our acts, our demeanour have much influence for or against our Lord Jesus Christ.

STATION IV.

1. The Chief Priests said: He saved others: Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the Cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusted in God, let Him now deliver Him, if He will have Him, for He said: I am the Son of God.

2. The people: Save Thy own self. If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross.

3. The thieves: The self-same thing the thieves also reproached Him with. If Thou be Christ, save Thyself

and us.

4. The soldiers: If Thou be the King of the Jews, save

Thyself.

A. It deserves notice that all are unanimous in this cry: that our Lord is to come down from the Cross.

At the Prætorium, an hour ago, the persistent yell was: Let Him be crucified.

Now all in one chorus insist: "Let Him come down from the Cross".

Those who have had special light concerning the Holy

Passion, tell us that both at the Prætorium and here on Golgotha the unseen spirits of wickedness are inspiring and suggesting, and giving to men their watchword.

The change in the popular cry, they tell us, is due to a change in the policy of the princes of darkness.

Throughout the early stages of the Passion their tactics were, as the Holy Ghost has revealed, He calleth Himself the Son of God. Let us see then if His words be true. For if He be true Son of God, He will defend Him, and deliver Him from the hands of His enemies. Let us examine Him by outrages and tortures, that we may know His weakness and try His patience. Let us condemn Him to a most shameful death (Wisdom ii.).

The wicked spirits have heard Jesus say that if the days of persecution be not shortened, no flesh should be saved (St. Matt. xxiv.). Their plan, therefore, was to heap every kind of torment and outrage upon Him. For thus, they argued, either God will deliver Him, and then we shall know for certain what He is, and who He is; or else, the tortures will break down His patience and meekness, and He will sin.

All this time, then, they have been trying an experiment in a dark uncertainty, and are constantly asking themselves, Is He a man, or more than man?

When at last Jesus is crucified, and betrays no sign whatever of weakness or impatience, or any departure whatever from the highest sanctity, once more they say to each other in despair: Do you see that we prevail nothing? The whole world (will go) after this Man (St. John xii.).

As beyond crucifixion they have nothing worse to suggest, they begin to see that they are vanquished.

Moreover, as soon as ever Jesus is fastened to the Cross, as St. Jerome writes, they feel a mysterious power exercised over them by the Cross. They begin to shudder and quail in presence of "Thy holy Cross, Lord Jesus, through which Thou shalt redeem the world ".

Crux fidelis, inter omnes,
Arbor una nobilis.

O faithful Cross! no other tree

Compares with thy nobility.

In the contemplations of God's holy servants we see that from this hour Satan and his unseen spirits begin to wish to fly away from Calvary; but the decree of God is that they shall remain on the battlefield to the end, to the bitter end.

And in order that their confusion may be worse confounded and multiplied, it is through the voice of the woman, the despised woman, that the will of God is enforced. It is the voice of Holy Mary, the second Eve, that forbids their departure, and commands them to remain on Calvary, till the stupendous conflict is entirely ended. They must drink the bitter chalice of shame and humiliation and confusion to the dregs. The woman shall with her virgin foot crush the serpent's head, before they can have leave to fly away to hide the agonies of their pride.

B. Let Him come down from the Cross, and we will believe in Him.

"To me it seems," St. Jerome writes, "that the demons suggest this cry. For as soon as ever He was crucified, they felt the power of the Cross, and understood that their strength was broken, and now are working that He may come down from the Cross."

From this moment, then, the method of warfare is changed:

"We cannot overcome the meekness of Jesus of Nazareth, but we may yet perchance delude Him and trick Him. We have made a fatal mistake in torturing and crucifying Him; we may be able to undo what we have done by inducing Him to come down from the Cross."

Already they understand something of the mystery, that if He, the Just One, dies, through their machinations, their power over guilty men will be lost. His Death will be death to their empire. They have marked that word on the holy page: O death, I will be thy death; O Hell, I will be thy bite (Osee xiii.). From now, therefore, they are

as anxious to hinder the Death of Jesus as they were before to multiply torments.

They will try every plausible argument.

Therefore, having learned, St. Bernard suggests, from their watchful experience, with what ardent zeal Jesus desires to move His people to believe in Him, they suggest to the Priests and Ancients to make this most seductive offer:

1. C. Let Him come down from the Cross, and we will believe in Him.

Longing as He does for their belief, surely He will come down to win it. This, St. Bernard thinks, is their plan. The Rulers, Satan knows, are only saying the words with their lips; their hearts are far away from all intention of believing in Jesus. But this does not trouble him. He is more pleased by far to work for his ends by lying than by truth.

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They do not mean what they say. But Jesus, in His ardent enthusiasm, may believe what they say. We have deceived prophets in days gone; we may do so still."

Therefore, with all the ingenuity and perseverance of their own malice, the argument is formed and reformed in different shapes, and urged and urged again and again.

2. D. He trusted in God, let Him now deliver Him.

So that if Jesus will not now come down from the Cross, men will either doubt the power of God, or doubt the Mission of Jesus. "Are then," St. Chrysostom writes, "all the prophets and just men whom you slew, ye wicked Jews, not prophets and not just, because God did not deliver them? Nay, because they died, they are proved to be just men and prophets."

3. E. If Thou be the King of the Jews, save Thyself.

These pagan soldiers know nothing of His being the Messias, or Son of God, but they heard Him say: Thou sayest it, I am a King. For this came I into the world that I might give testimony of the truth. My Kingdom is not of this world.