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II.

542 Sect. 187. the People, [and] effectually perfuaded the Mob they had brought with them, that they should afk Mark XV. the Governor with a continual Noife and Clamour, that he would rather releafe Barabbas to them; that by this Means the Point they had in View might be fecured, and they might be fure to destroy Jefus. And therefore when the GoXXVII. 21. vernor answered them in this Manner, and faid to them again, Take Notice that your Choice lies only between these, and therefore now determine for yourfelves, which of the Two do you defire I

The Jews prefer Barabbas to CHRIST,

Matth.

18.

Mark XV.

Luk. XXIII. should release unto you ? Then, as their Principals had prompted them, they all cried out again with one Confent, in the fame noify and tumultuous Way as they had done before, faying, We will not have this [Man] but Barabbas; away with this [Man,] and releafe unto us Barabbas. And thus, when Pilate would have let him go, they denied the Holy One and the Juft, and defired a Murtherer to be granted unto them. (Acts iii. 14.) And Pilate, to divert them from their Purpose, again anfwered and faid to them, What therefore would you have me do with this Jefus, who is called Chrift, and whom, if I may believe your own Rulers, fo many of you are ready to call and own 13 as the King of the Jews (e)? And they all presently renewed their Clamour, and cried out again as before, [and] with one Voice faid to bim, Crucify him: Let him immediately be crucified; for he is fit to be treated as the vileft Slave, rather than to be called our King (f).

12.

Pilate

perfuaded the People, [that rather releafe Barabbas unto theyfhould afk] that he should them, [and deftroy Jefus.] [MAT. XXVII. 20.]

MAT.XXVII.21.-The

Governor anfwered and faid twain will ye that I release unto you?

unto them, Whether of the

LUKE XXIII. 18. And [JOH. then] they [JOH. all]

cried out [JOH. again] all at once, faying, [JOH. Not this Man, but Barabbas] away with this Man, and release XXVII.-21. JOHN XVIII. 40.-]

unto us Barabbas. [MAT.

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(e) Whom you call the King of the Jews.] Pilate often repeats this Title; and it may feem ftrange, that he should use it fo frequently. Probably he might do it, partly to ridicule thofe Pretences, and bring Contempt on the Scheme of a Meffiah; and partly to procure from the Jews, in their Zeal against Christ, the strongest and most publick Profeffions of their Subjection to Cæfar.

(f) Let him be crucified.] By this Cry they declared the greatest Degree of Rage that can be imagined; for it was as if they had faid, "Let him whom you call our King, be "treated like one of the vileft of your Slaves, who has committed the most enormous "Crime." To have inflicted fuch a Punishment as this on any free Jew, would probably have been fufficient to have thrown the whole City and Nation into an Uproar; but now they were deaf to every thing, but the Clamour of Paffion; and in their Madness forgot with how dangerous a Precedent they might furnifh the Roman Governor. And indeed it turned dreadfully on themselves, when fuch vaft Numbers of them were crucified for their Oppofition to the Romans, during the Time of their last War. See Note (n) in the next Section, on Mat. xxvii, 25.

(8) Why?

and eagerly cry out to have him crucified.

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543 Pilate therefore, being ftill defirous to releafe Sec. 187.

Jefus, pake to them yet again; urging them feri- Luk. XXIII.

20.

oufly to confider what they did, in thus prefer-
ring fuch an abandoned Miscreant as Barabbas, to
fo innocent a Perfon. But they, without fo 21
much as offering any farther Reafon, perfifted in
their Importunity, and cried out as before, Say-
ing, Crucify [him,] crucify him.

And Pilate was fo intent on delivering him, 22:
that he faid to them the third Time, Why will you
be fo cruel as to infift upon it? what Evil has he
done (g)? I declare to you all, as I told you but
now, (ver. 14. pag. 540.) that I have found no
Capital Crime in him: I will therefore, as I faid,
(ver. 16.) chaftife him by fcourging, and then I
hope your Rage will be moderated, and you will
be prevailed upon to agree, that I should let [him]
without any farther Punishment..

go

But they, without pretending to answer the Argument he had alledged, overbore it by a wild Fury, and were urgent in preffing him with loud and importunate Voices; and the more he oppofed them, they cried out the more abundantly. and violently, demanding, that whatever was the Confequence of it, he might be crucified: And on the whole, notwithstanding the farther Remonftrance of Pilate on the Admonition of his Wife, (which will be mentioned in the next Section,) their Voices, and [thofe] of the Chief Priefts, (who to encourage the Cry, had fo little Senfe of common Decency, as themselves to join in it,) prevailed with the Governor, tho' contrary to the Convictions of his own Confcience, to comply with their Request.

IMPROVEMENT.

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23

EHOLD, how all imaginable Circumftances feem to confpire, to Luke xxiii. increase the Infamy thrown on that Sacred Head, which now moft 7,--116worthily wears a Crown of Eternal Glory! Of a Truth, oh Lord, against

thy

(8) Why? what Evil has he done?] Ti gap nanov emonger; Raphelius (Annot. ex Xenoph. pag. 64.) has well proved, that yap is often ufed by the correcteft Greek Writers, and particularly Xenophon, as an elegant Expletive, efpecially to introduce a Question.

II.

544

Reflections on their Violence in perfecuting JESUS. Sect. 187.thy boly Child Jefus, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the Chief Priefts, and the People of Ifrael, were gathered together, to do whatsoever thy Hand and thy Counfel had determined before to be done. Luke xxiii. (Acts iv. 27, 28.) The wifeft Perfon on Earth was by Herod and his Soldiers derided as a Fool; the most deferving was condemned by the Chief Priefts; and the moft innocent was treated as a Criminal by Pilate, and furiously demanded as a publick Victim by the Jews. All the Proofs of his Innocence are overborne by a loud and a fenfeless Cry; and those Hofannahs, with which the Streets and Temple were fo lately ecchoing, are Ver. 21, 23. exchanged into Crucify him, crucify him. So uncertain is Human Applaufe! and fo unrighteous may Human Judgments be!

But in the midst of all, the Bleffed Jefus ftands collected in himself. Firm as a Rock, he bears the Violence of the Storm, and is not moved Ver. 18, 19. by all the furious Waves, that beat upon him; and when he saw a Robber Mark xv. and a Murtherer preferred before him, and a Sentence of the most cruel Death demanded against him, he filently commits himself to him that judgeth righteously, who e'er long brought forth his Righteousness as Brightnefs, and his Salvation as a Lamp that burneth. (Compare 1 Pet. ii. 23. and Ifa. Ixii. 1.)

13, 14.

Lord, if thou calleft us out to share in thy Sufferings, may the Spirit of GOD and of Glory thus reft on us! And may neither the Scorn, nor the Rage of our Enemies feparate us from Thee, who didft fo couragiously bear all this for us; nor may they ever fink us into any Weakness of Behaviour, unworthy of those, who have the Honour to call themselves thy Followers!

SECT. CLXXXVIII.

Pilate, having again and again renewed his Efforts to perfuade the Jews, to confent that JESUS fhould be released, at length yields to their Importunity, and delivers him up to be crucified. Mat. XXVII. 19. 24,---31. Mark XV. 15,---20. Luke XXIII. 24, 25. John XIX. 1,—-16.—

JOHN XIX. I.

Sect. 188.THEN, as the Priefts and People of the Jews continued their clamorous Demand, that Jesus John XIX. should be crucified, Pilate thought it most advifable to seem at least to consent to it, and therefore took Jefus, and Scourged him; hoping, that

J.

after

JOHN XIX. I. THEN Pilate therefore took Jefus, and fcourged

bim.

JESUS is fcourged, and a Crown of Thorns put on his Head.

MAT. XXVII. 27. Then the Soldiers of the Governor took Jefus [and led him away] into the common Hall [called Pretorium,] and gathered unto him the whole Band of Soldiers. [MARK

XV. 16.]

28 And they ftripped him, and [clothed him with Purple, and ] put on him a Scarlet Robe: [MARK XV. 17.— JOHN XIX. —2.]

29 And when [JOH. the Soldiers] had platted a Crown of Thorns, they put it upon

his

545 after he had been feverely fcourged, the Rage of Sect. 188. the Populace would be fomething abated, and they might at laft be prevailed upon to confent, that he should be difmiffed.

John XIX.

I.

Then the Soldiers of the Governor (a), knowing Matth. that it was the Roman Custom to fcourge PrifoXXVII. 27. ners juft before they were put to Death, interpreted Pilate's Order on this Head, as a Declaration that he was immediately to be crucified : And therefore they took Jefus, [and] led bim away into the Common Hall in Pilate's Palace, which was called the Prætorium, (as being the Place where the Prætor, a Roman Magiftrate, ufed to keep his Court;) and there they gathered to him the whole Band, or Cohort, to infult and torment him, not being concerned to keep any Measures with a Perfon, whom they looked upon as entirely abandoned to their Will. And having 28 ftripped him of that splendid Garment in which Herod had contemptuously dreffed him, in order to vary the Mockery and Affront, they wantonly clothed him in a Veft of Imperial Purple, [and] put on him a Scarlet Robe over it, that in this gaudy Drefs he might have something of a mock Refemblance to a Prince : And farther to ri- 29 dicule his Pretenfions to Royalty, which they confidered as an Affront to their Nation and Emperor, the Soldiers having maliciously platted a Crown of Thorns, put it upon his Head (b), and put

(a) Then the Soldiers &c.] The Evangelift John fo plainly fpeaks of their crowning our Lord with Thorns, and these other Indignities, as previous to Pilate's laft Attempt to fave him, that I think it proper to tranfpofe thofe Verfes in Matthew and Mark, which mention thefe Circumftances as after his Condemnation, and immediately preceding the Execution: Some of them might probably be repeated after Pilate had delivered him to be crucified, while the Inftruments of Death were preparing; and therefore Matthew and Mark mention the whole Series of these Cruelties together: Or the Word role, then, (which is used by Matthew,) may only fignify, that it was done about that Time, not determining the Order of each Particular fo abfolutely, as to be inconfiftent with the most accurate and diftinct Account which John gives of the whole Procefs of this Affair. Many Inftances of the indeterminate Ufe of that Particle occur in the Evangelifts: See Mat. ix. 14. xxiv. 40. Mark xiii. 14, 26. Luke xxi. 10, 21. and John xix. 16.

(b) Having platted a Crown of Thorns, &c.] It is certain, they intended hereby to expose his pretended Royalty to Ridicule and Contempt; but had that been all, a Crown of Straws might have ferved as well. They undoubtedly meant to add Cruelty to their Scorn, which efpecially appeared in their friking him on the Head, when this Crown was put on. If the best Descriptions of the Eastern Thorns are to be credited, they are much larger than any commonly known in these Parts.

VOL. IL

Zzz

(c) Took

546

Matth.
XXVII. 291

Pilate's Wife fends to him to let Jesus alone.

E

Sect. 188. put a large Reed, or Cane, into his Right Hand, his Head, and a Reed in his to reprefent a Sceptre: And then they began in a Right Hand: and they [began to falute him, and bowludicrous Manner to pay their Homage and Salued the Knee before him, [and tations to him, as to a new-created Prince on his worshipped him, J and mockCoronation Day [and] bowing the Knee before him, ed him, faying, Hail, King they did him Reverence in a fcoffing Way, and fmote him with their Hands:] of the Jews: [JOH. and they mocked him, Jaying, All bail, thou moft magnifi- [MARK XV. -17, 18, cent King of the Fees! Hail, mighty Monarch! -19. JOHN XIX. 2.—3.Í we give thee Joy on thine Acceffion to the Crown! And then approaching him, as if they would have offered him fome Prefent, as ufual on fuch Occafions, they fmote him with their Hands; 30 And proceeded fo far as to spit upon him, even in his very Face; and at last, took the Reed, or Cane, out of his Hand (c), and barbaroufly truck him with it on the Head; and fo, as it were, nailed down the Thorns into his Forehead and Temples, and occafioned thereby exquifite Pain, as well as a great Effufion of Blood All which this holy Suffereri bore with the utmoft Meeknefs and Compofure, heither reviling nor threatening them, but filently committing himself to the righteous. invifible Judge, (1 Pet. ii. 23.).

Matth.
XXVII.

In the mean Time, Pilate was taken up with
19 trying and condemning fome other Prifoners who
were to be executed that Day; and tehile he thus
was fitting on the Tribunal, his Wife, having by
this Time been informed, that Jefus had been
brought before him, and was going to be given.
up to Death, fent a very importunate Meffage to
him (d), faying,
I beseech thee fee to it, that
thou have nothing to do with the Blood of that
righteous One, against whom the Jews are now
demanding Judgment; for I have fuffered many

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30 And they [did] fpit upon him, and took the

Reed, and Imote him on the
Head. [MARK XV. 19.—]

MAT.XXVII. 19. When

he was fet down on the Judgto him, faying, Have thou nothing to do with that juft Man: for I have fuffered

ment-Seat, his Wife fent un

many

(c) Took the Reed, of Cane, out of his Hand. The Word xaos does indeed fometimes fignify a fender Reed (Mat, xi. 7. xii. 20. and 3 John, ver. 13) but it includes all Kind of Canes; and it is moft probable, this was a Walking-Staff, which they put into his Hand as a Sceptre; for a Blow with a flight Reed would fcarce have been felt, or have deferved a Mention in a Detail of fuch dreadful Sufferings..

(d) His Wife Jent to him.] While Rome was governed by a Commonwealth, it was unusual for the Governors of Provinces to take their Wives with them; but afterwards it grew cuftomary, and the Motion made against it in the Fourth Year of Tiberius was rejected. with fome Indignation. See Tacit. Annal, lib, iii. cap. 33, 34.

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