and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST, and his APOSTLES, &C. 263 ^7310,1R CH A P T E R XXXVIII. JESUS is ledforth to Calvary : Simon, the Cyrenian, compelled to carry the Crofs : He is crucified between two MalefaSlors : A Title is put upon the Crofs by Pilate, and Lots call for his Garment : The Multitude, the Rulers, the Pri f s, and the Soldiers revile Jesus: The Converfion of one of the Thieves.: Thegreat and unnatural Ecliffe of the Sun: JESUS (peaks to his Friendsfrom the Crofs, cries, It is fined, recommends his Spirit into the Hands ofhis heavenly Father, and expires. OMy foul ! come and follow thy Re- deemer to the lafl fcene of the moil innocent and ufeful courfe that was ever palled on earth ; follow him to Calvary's horrid eminence, to Calvary's fatal cata- firophe ; there fix thy moll confiant at- tention on that lovely, that forrowful peaacle. Behold the fpotlefs viaimnailed to a tree, and dabbed to the heart; hear him pouring out prayers for his murderers, before he poured out his foul for tranf- greffors ; fee the wounds that dream with forgivenefs, and bleed balm for a diilempered world. O! fee the judice and goodnefs of the Almighty, his mercy and his vengeance ; all his tremendous and gracious attributes manifeded; manifefted with inexpreflible fplendour, in the Mott ignominious, and yet granded of tranf- allions that ever the world beheld ! After fentence was pronounced againft thebleffed JEs us, the foldiers were ordered to prepare for his execution ;- a command which they readily obeyed ; and after clothing him in his own garments, led him away to crucify him. It is not faid that they took the crown of thorns from his temples ; probably he died wearing it, that the title placed over his head might be the better underbood by the fpeétators. The miniders of Jewift malice we may fuppofe remitted none of the circumfances of a(fliflion which were ever laid on per- fons condemned to be crucified. Accord- ingly, JEsus wasobliged to walk on foot to the place of execution, bearing his. crofs : but the fatigue of the preceding night fpent without deep, the fufFerings he had undergone in the garden ; his having been hurried from place to place, and obliged to (land thewhole time of his trials ; the want of food, and the lofs of blood he had fuftained, and not his want of courage on this occafion, made him faint under the burden of his crois. The foldiers, feeing him unable to bear the weight, laid it on one Simon, a native ofCyrene, in Egypt, the father of Alexander and Rufus, well known among the fink Chridians, and forced him to bear it after the great Re- deemer of mankind. The foldiers did not this, however, out of companion to the fuffering Jesus, but to prevent his dying with the fatigue, and by that means avoid- ing the punifhment defigned for him. In this journey to Calvary our bleffed Saviour was followed by an innumerable multitude of people, particularly of wo- men, who lamented bitterly the feverity of his fentence, and (hewed all the tokens of fincere companion and grief. Jesus, who always felt the woes of others more than he did his own, forgetting his didrefs at the very time when it lay heavie(t upon him,
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