HOMILIES BY VA.RIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 2.-The crown of thorns. How deeply the incident here related impressed itself upon the mind and heart of Christendom is manifest (1) from the romantic legends current among Christians regarding it, from the time of Helena., the mother of Con- stantine, downwards ; and (2) from the frequent representations of the thorn-crowned Redeemer produced by Christian painters, who have used all the resources of their art to give to the "Ecce Homo! " the interest of sorrow and of spiritual beauty. L THE ODVIOUB il,'l) ORIGINAL SIGJ,.'D'ICANCE OF THE CROWN OF THORNS. l . It was an evidence of the cruelty end brutality of Christ's foes. The actual plaiting of thP. crown, and the actual placing of it upon the holy Sufferer's head was the deed of the Boman soldiers. Insensibility to the pa.in experienced by Jesus ma.y have been natural to such men; but the mockery and scorn displayed in the pretence of homage must have been learned from the Jews. 2. It wa.s an opportunity for Jesus to exhibit those moral qualities which have ever since been peculiarly associated with his name. His patience, his meekness, 'bis dignity, were never more conspicuous than when he was insulted and ill used by his calumniators and foes. Nor can we see that such dispo- sitions cocld have been so strikingly exhibited except in circwnatances such as those in which the :Man of sorrows was then placed. II. TJIE SYJlllOLIC il'D PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CROWN OF THORNS. 1. Th.is affecting coronation is e.n emblem of our Saviom's earthly ministry. His career brought together the hate end the loving devotion of multitudes ; it was marked by poverty and lowliness, and yet by a majesty quite unique; he was despised and rejected of men, yet his teaching constrai.!led the exclamation, "Never man spake like this Man I " and his miracles constrained the cry," What manner of Man ill this?" The thorns of hatred and contempt were thrust into his hea.d; yet love aud loyalty wrought them into 11 victor's wreath, a monarch's diadem. 2. The crowning of Jesus with thorns sym- bolized the character of the religion which he founded. The cross was followed by the re•unection; the entombment by the ascension. Thus God brought together, in the c:ireer of his own Son, the profountle&t humiliation anti the most exalte,1 glory. And on. XJX. 1-42.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 441
this arrangement represents the nature of Christianity. It is a religion of humility, oontrition, and repentance, and also of pooce, victory, 11.nd power. It l!IIlites the sinner to t~e earth; It raises the pardoned penitent to he11.ven. a. This incirlent was pro- phetic of the progress o.nd the victory of the Christi&n faith. Our religion h&s indeed triumphed, but it has triumphed through suffering. Its onw11.rd course hll.B been m11.rked by the blood of oonfessors, mo.rtyrs, 11.nd missionaries, ud by the toil and an"uish of thousnnds of f11.ithful promulgators. The thorns of suffering are the means; th~a crown of glory o.nd of conquest is the end. Christw11.s made perfect through suffering, and his Church sho.11 reach a universal dominion only by a toilsome path of strife, watered by te&rs and sto.ined with blood.-T,