3. How unbounded is the compassion of our blessed
Lord!
[Well might our Lord have exposed Peter to those whom he feared : or rather, well might the insulted Jesus have looked him dead upon the spot, even as Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead with a lie in their mouths11. But that compas- sionate Saviour cast only on his apostate servant a look of love and pity ; yea, and that too, in the very midst of his sin.
And may we not suppose, that he is at this very moment looking in the same manner on some amongst us, who have dishonoured their profession, and grieved him by their un- worthy conduct? Let us endeavour to realize this thought. Let us examine whether there be not a cause, which our blinded consciences have been too backward to condemn ? And, if we can find any thing that has grieved his soul, let us instantly go home, and " weep bitterly," till he forgive us. Let us then think on our ways, and turn unto God's testimonies : let us make haste, and not delay, to keep his commandments x.]
i Ps. xvii. 5. and cxix. 117. r ver. 54. s ver. 55.
* Compare Ecclus. xix. 1. with Prov. xxviii. 18.
u Acts v. 1 — 10. x Ps. cxix. 59, 60.
Christ's accusation before pilate.
Luke xxiii. 1 — 3. And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Ccesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King. And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou say est it.
UNANIMITY in any cause is no proof that the cause is good : nothing is requisite but to raise an outcry, and the passions of the multitude are soon heated ; and, if there be a few artful and designing men to head them, they will concur in measures the most violent, and in acts the most atrocious. Never was this more awfully exemplified than in the conduct of the Jews towards our blessed Lord. Of all the Benefactors that nation ever beheld, Jesus was by far the greatest : yet there we find the whole multitude of the Jews, with the priests and elders at their head, leading Jesus before the Roman governor, in order to obtain against him the sentence of death.
We would call your attention to, I. The transaction itself —
Here are three things to be noticed ; 1. The virulence of the accusation — [How contemptuously, how maliciously, how falsely, do they speak against him ! He pervert the nation ! Had they called him the Instructor of the nation, the Healer of the nation, the Saviour of the nation, they had done well : but to call him the Perverter of the nation, was a calumny, which one would have thought his bitterest enemies would not have dared to utter. It was not long since the very question had been pub- licly submitted to him ; and his express answer was, " Render unto Ca?sar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's*. " What he thus enjoined on his fol- lowers, he had before sanctioned by his example, having actually wrought a miracle on purpose to pay his tribute b. And when the people would have taken him to make him a king, he by a miracle rendered himself invisible, and withdrew himself from them c.]
a Luke xx. 25. b Matt. xvii. 25 — 27. c John vi. 15.
1581.] christs accusation before pilate. 127
2. The subtlety of his accusers —
[They formed their accusation so as to influence the person whose decision they desired. Before the High Priest, they accused him of blasphemy ; but before Pilate, of sedition; that so they might interest the feelings of each, and procure from both a sentence of condemnation against him. Their pretended zeal for the honour of the Roman emperor, was especially calculated to make a favourable impression on him, who, as Caesar's deputy, now governed Judaea as a province of the Roman empire.