Page 69us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?" (Matt. 27:67, 68). This having continued till about morning, they delivered Him to Pontius Pilate, the judge, to pronounce the sentence of death upon Him, and to put an end to His life. Matt. 27:1, 2. Pilate said,"What accusation bring ye against this man?" They answered,"If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee." Pilate said,"Take ye Him, and judge him according to your law;" for he perceived that for envy they had delivered Him. They answered,"He perverts the nation, and forbids to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He Himself is a king. In short, 'We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.'" (John 19:7). Thereupon Pilate took Jesus into the judgment hall, and, having examined Him, said, that he found no cause of death in Him. Therefore he sought a means to release Him; moreover, in order to move the Jews to pity on account of His innocence, he caused Him (though against his conscience) to be terribly scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked, and, thus disfigured, brought before the Jews, saying,"Behold the man I" so that they might now be satisfied with His suffering, and spare His life. But it was of no avail; they cried the more,"Crucify him, crucify him; if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend." Verse 12. Finally, when Pilate saw that the Jews were not to be moved, and fearing that they might accuse him before Caesar, he went and sat down (at about eight o'clock in the morning, according to our reckoning) in the judgment seat, in the place called Lithostratos, and in Hebrew Gabbatha, a paved elevation in Jerusalem; and there, though quite against his conscience, pronounced the sentence of death upon Christ. Thereupon the soldiers again very dreadfully mocked Him, laid His cross upon Him, and drove Him out through the gate up to Mount Calvary, where they, after having stripped Him of His garments, nailed Him to a cross, and raised Him up between two murderers, John 19:18; which was done, according to our reckoning, at about nine o'clock in the morning. In the meantime they gave Him vinegar and gall to drink, parted His garments, and again derided Him most shamefully and above measure, till a great darkness came, continuing for about three hours; and then the Lord cried with a loud voice,"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!" that is,"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). Then, having fulfilled all, He commended His soul into His Father's hands, saying,"Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46). Thereupon He bowed His head and expired, having suffered excruciatingly six hours on the cross, from nine o'clock in the morning till three in the afternoon.* Then the earth began to quake, the rocks were rent, the graves were opened, the vail of the temple was rent in twain, and many miracles happened, as a sign that He who died there was more than a common man, yea, that He was the Son of the living God.
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