whole, they crucified him between two thieves ; and continued their impious derision till the very instant of his dissolution. Nay, they were not even then satisfied ; even after he was dead, they could not refrain from shewing their hatred of him : one of the soldiers, expressing doubtless the feelings of others as well as his own, officiously thrust his spear into his side : and all the chief priests and Pharisees made application to Pilate, that he would set a guard to watch that deceiver, as they called him, lest his dis- ciples should come by night and steal him away, and report that he had risen from the dead. Thus did the whole nation " despise and reject him." Every other part of the creation gave testimony to him : the wild beasts in the wilderness stood in awe of him ; the fishes of the sea confessed his power ; the winds and the waves obeyed his voice ; the holy angels minis- tered unto him ; the very devils acknowledged his divine mission : but men, the men too of his own na- tion, the very men whom he came to redeem, rejected him ; " He came unto his own, and his own received him not."
Happy would it have been if their contempt of Christ had terminated here : but, alas ! it continued unextinguished and unabated, even after he had proved his divine mission by his resurrection from the dead, and had sent down the Holy Ghost to attest his word. They could indeed no longer vent their spleen against his person, because he was far above out of their reach ; but they beat his messengers, re- viled his doctrines, and opposed to the uttermost the success of his gospel. No means were left untried : they used every species of persecution, that they might deter men from embracing his religion : they excommunicated, imprisoned, and murdered his fol- lowers : and, though God was pleased to convert a remnant of them, the bulk of the nation contradicted and blasphemed the gospel, till they had filled up the measure of their iniquities.
But must we confine this accusation to the people of that age and nation ? Alas ! where is the nation