Ver. 48.-Sacred impression,. There was a considerable company of spectators at the Crucifixion. They were attracted not only by the spectacle of a triple execution, but, far more, by the fact that the Prophet whose fame had filled the land was to be led forth to die. It was not the riffraff of Jerusalem merely that "beheld the things that were done." The sense of impropriety in attendance at such sanguinary and harrowing scenes is quite modem. It did not prevail there and then. Probably the leading citizens were present-the well-to-do, the educated, the refined-male and female. All classes and all characters were there-the devout and the profane, the rough and the gentle, the selfish and the sympathetic. And of that large company of people there would be present men and women very variously affected toward Jesus Christ. We may say, without hesitation, that the eleven were there; though itis more than likely that, for a time at any rate, thty stood afar off, we cannot doubt that they were there, waiting and wondering; hoping with a faint hope, fearing with a terrible and mastering dread. Many true and loyal disciples were there, among whom, truest among the true, were the women who had followed him and "ministered to him" (Matt. xxvii. 55). Besides these were the fickle, doubled-minded multitude, who cried, " Hosannah 1" one day, and a few days later shouted, "Crucify him I" And beyond these in spiritual distance were his implacable and bitter enemies. What may we suppose to have been the effect of the Crucifixion on the minds of" the people that came together to that sight"? L l111MEDIATE EFFECTS PROBABLY PRODUCED. 1. There were physical elements sure to excite their wondering imagination. When an unnatural darkness brooded over the entire scene for three long dread hours, when the earth trembled, when the loud death- cry of the suflering Saviour pierced the air, there was a combination of strange ma~vels and unusual experiences which must have shaken their souls and filled them with a great awe. 2. And there were moral elements there fitted to touch their hearts. There was the presence of death-death, ".the great reconciler," that quenches strong. a_ni- mosities that awakens an unwanted pity, that subdues the hardened soul to a surpnsmg softness.' '!'here was the death of a Man still young, of a Man who had rendered undeniably great services to many hearts in many homes. There was death met with heroic fortitude undergone with a calmness, a magnanimity, a moral greatness, suoh as their eyes had never seen before. 'l'hee~ two elements together _powe~full,v: affected the people that drew to that eight; and with whatsoever thought m their mmd_ they •· came together," it i11 certain that a very great majority of them went home astomshed, if not ashamed and alarmed; they returucd "smiting their breasts." Ilut whnt were- err. xxm. 1-56.J T.EIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 263
II. THE ULTIMATE EFFECTS PRODUCED? 1. Some effects were permanently good. Surely it was partly, if not largely, the remembrance of what they bad seen and done n.nd felt on this great clay that led to the "pricking of heart" they experienced when Peter spoke so faithfully, and led them to Uhristian baptism (Acts ii. 22, 23, 37--41). Was not the "smiting of the breast" more than an antecedent in time to that being smitten in heart when they listened and responded? 2. Others, we may be sure, were evanescent and unfruitful. It would have been a. very singular case if there were not many who felt much agitation that day, and the next, and, perhaps, the day after; but who soon allowed pressing cares or passing pleMW'es to drive convictions from the soul. '!'hey" smote their breasts, and returned ; " but, instead of returning to God, they went back to the old routine and the old formalism and unspirituality. It is well to be affected by the facts of God's providence, whether these be simple and ordin:i.ry, or whether unusual and startling. It is well indeed to be affected by the view of a. Saviour's death, however that death may be presented to our souls. But let no man rest contented with such emotion as was in the breast of the people who "came together to that sight." It is wholly undecisive; if it lead not to something better than itself, it will bring forth no fruit of life. It must pass, and should pass quickly, into an intelligent conviction of sin, into a real and living faith in him who was then the Crucified One, and so into newness of life in him and unto him.-C.