The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 603

but G0d himself. It mast involve issues deep-reaching and mystrrious, vory blessed and sacred, but very, very a~ful. And oh, it sets before us a lovo beautiful above all beauty, holy above al~ holiness, render, compassionate, intense, above all that our selfish hearts c:m conceive of sweet.est pity and most entire Eelf-sacrifico. The oross is the central point of the world's history; all tho groat lines of our deepest moral and spiritual interests meet in it or radiate from it. It was once a thing most hateful and most horrible, fe.r more suggestive of shame and horror then than the gibbet ie now. But the Lord most holy died thereon for our salvation; e.nd the glory of his precious love bas shed an aureole of golden light around the tree of shame. And now the cross ie to Christian hearts of all things dear the dearest and the most sacred; for it tells us with its silent eloquence the blessed story of the exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ. They crucified him, the four Roman soldiers; they knew not what they did; they knew nothing, probably, of the Lord's life, of his holiness, of his works of power and love; they were hut obeying orders ; they were less guilty than P1late, than Caiaphas, than Judas. Perhaps they took a wicked pleasure in that deed of blood. They may probably have taken part in the insults and mockery which preceded the Crucifixion; they had uo awe for Christ at first. Afterwards the centurion in command, and (it seems from St. Matthew's account) the soldiers also, recognized the Divine majesty of the awful Sufferer. It may be, we cannot tell, that that centurion, that those very soldiers, were saved by the precious blood which was shed by their hands. They pierced the Lord; they pierced his hands and his feet; in another and a more guilty sense it was the Jews who pierced him; in another sense, a true and deep sense, it was all sinners, especially those who have sinned against his cross, against light, and against knowledge. But it is written," They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him;" "Blessed are they that mourn : for they shaJ.l be comforted." We have pierced the Lord by our sins and hardness; but if the great love of the crucified Lord brings us to penitence, he will forgive, he will comfort, he will eave. They crucified him. We can scarcely conceive the horrors which that word expresses, the shame, the cruel pain, the protracted torture. Thank God, those dreadful sights are seen no longer; the cross of the Lord saved humanity from the cross. The first Christian emperor forbade the infiiction of that dreadful punishment. Christianity has done much to soften the hardness of human nature; that cruelty which was once so common seems to us now horrible and revolting. But the dear Lord suffered aJ.l that the most atrocious brutality could inflict, unrelieved by any touch of pity except the offer of the stupefying draught, and the sponge full of vinegar; UDielieved by any offices of love save the silent sympathy of the 1ive, or four, faithful ones who "stood by the cross of Jesus." We should think much of those sufferings, and bring them home to our hearts, and try to realize them in all their touching details. The daily, constant thought of the cross is a great safe- guard against wilful sin, against ingratitude, against ambitious dreams, aga~nst murmuring and repining. In our sufferings, when we are oppressed and ready to s1nk, let us remember the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us, by an act of faith, offer our sufferings to God, uniting them by faith with the one great ~cc~ptable Sacrifice, that he may make us accepted in the Beloved, that through faith m _the crucified Saviour our sufferings may become a cross; for the cross, we know, ra19es the Christian man nearer to God, nearer to heaven. 2. They parted his garments. Virtue had come out of those garments, and had healed those who had touched the very hem. They would have been regarded by Christiane as most sacred relics. But the rough soldiers thought nothing of the dignity of him who had wom them. Perha~s they despised them as poor and valueless; but, such as they were, ~hey were their perquisites• they divided them, and cast lots upon the seamless tumc. Thus they fulfilled the' prophecy of the twenty-second psalm-that psalm which describes suO:er- ings such as were never home by David or by any of the Old Testament worth~es, but which was so wonderfully fulfilled in the circumstances of the deat~ of Christ. The soldiers little thought that they were doing what God had fo~eo~da1n~. How strange it 11eems to us that they could cast lots, perhaps shake the dice m their bre.z~n helmets, at the very foot of the cross I Sacred symbols will inspire reveren~e only in those who have a reverent spirit. They will not keep careless men from irreverent talk, or evel) from drinking or gambling. 3. They watched him. They watched le$ on. xxvu.1-66.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 809