Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-11-15
Sunday School Lesson NOtsS.
BY REV. j. o. sHERBURN.

| AA'"'"'ui tIileBy oil ChriScs
death none play n more brutalv crue,
part than the Roman soldiers. When
Plate finished the examination of Jesus
whereby he was made sure of his innocen.
cy, he turned his prisoner over to these sol
dlers. They proceed with him into the hal
or court ofthe pra orium as it is here called
which was simply the headquarters of the
Roman authorities in Jerusalem, the pal
ace OF Antonio built by Herod the Great
In the open court in the interior of this
structure, were gathered tue whole cohorl
then stationed in Jerusalem. These rude
soldiers had heard the common talk about
Jesus which accredited him to DO III.
wouldbc king of the Jews.
Hence in mockery they clothed him il
purple, the color for royalty among TIE
Romans; and to complete the kingl,
equipage they placed crown upon h,'
head Their wentOn cruelty was manr
lest in the selection of the material for
crown. They wovo or plated thor
branches into wreath and p}ay. thi,
upon him as n symbo Of mock roy.ty
Matthew tells us that they pu :. reed in
his hand in place of the kingly scepro
Thus arrayed they indulge in such low
rnockery and shameful abuse as their
degraded natures prompted They bowed
before him as subject would on coming
before his sovereign.
With mock reverence they cried out
"Hail, King of the Jews" Then in utter
disregard for their victim, they would
strike him with reed, perhaps snatched
from his own hand, and spit upon him,
the vilest method for showing their con-
tempt. If we could endure any more
detailed picture of the sufferings of Christ
at the hands of sinners, we need only
mark the description of the shifting with
the reed which is given. "They smote
him upon the head" With the thorn
crown set upon his brow, they harshly
strike upon his head, every blow naturally
producing new wounds from the piercing
thorns.
Perhaps the little delay which gave time
for this abuseby the soldiers was occasioned
by the necessity of certain legal transao-
tions before Jesus was led out to his cruel
fixion some official warrant for his exc.
cution, perhaps, must be made out and
eceive proper Off ;ial signature. Or
another explanation of the matter may
be suggested; the Jewish rulers wanted a
recess for little time before going with
the multitude TO his execution. We find
at least that they were present, and as
they had been all night at work to com
pass the speedy death of Jesus, they
might want time for some refreshments
before the execution. Some cause of
delay without doubt existed, or not q mo.
ment would have been allowed between
the decision Lof PLATE and the march 10
Calvary. At length everything is ready
and taking off the purple and the savage
crown they lead Jesus out to his death
upon the cross. Well may our faces be
yelled as mourners while we follow the
Son of man to the place of his upremest
sufferings for our SINS. No path ovor
which we are ever called to journey ought
to be considered rough or toilsome when
we remember Jesus toiling up Golgotha
No burden ought to bring complaint while
we see our Savior bearing his cross
Three Of the evangelists concur in telling
us that the cross was finally placed upon
one Simon, Il Cyrenan, who bore i. after
him. 1t seems probable that the centurion
out of pity for Jesus, made this departure
from the usual custom of compelling the
condemned man to bear his cross.
The place Of the crucifxion need not
engage our attention particularly. The
locality now pointe out within the city
walls can hardly be the place unless the
city limits have changed; as he is said to
have suffered without the glte. The name
Of the place most likely came from the
contour of the hill Iagotha is said to
mean the place of a skull; but Il round
hllock might easily get that name from
its form. The other name Calvary, is
from the Lltn cGIUS, meaning bald, and
would naturally be applied to the bald
summit of a hill. On coming to This sum
NIT the soldiers administer to Jesus
a potion which it seems they were wont
TO give to those about to DC executed in
this painful manner. "They gave him 10
drink wine mingled with myr,h " Jesus
refused it saying "tho cup which my
Father giveth me shall not drink of it,"
This would indicate that the drink was
intended to produce stupefaction, or dead
en- the senses, and Christ chose to suffer in
the full possession of all his powers to
appreciate suffering. 1t may be thought
that the wine contained other drugs
beside myrrh, or it is not impossible that
it was refused solely on account of its
intoxicating properties.
1t was now nine o'clock in the morning.
During the last ten hours all the processes
of arrest, trial and judgement had been
passed through, and now the time of exc
cution had come. Were not the words of
scripture "he was taken from trial and
from Judgement" fully verified? An
other prophecy was also fulfilled in
the dividing of the Savior's garments
among the soldiers. Psalms, 22:1S
contains this puophecy. 1t was probably
practice which had grown up that allow
ed the soldiers who had charge of the
execution to divide among themselves the
garments taken from the condemned
criminal OF course they could not DO
said to have any legal right to them, but
usage is often considered as giving right
in such matters. Roman law more gen
orally coniscatod the possessions of the
criminal than our law does. Little or no
regard was then paid to the rights or feel