that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs: 51. the preparation.-(See xxx. f. 38.) 52. remain. It was against the law (Deut. xxi. 23) that the bodies of those executed should remain all night unburied. Josephus declares that the Jews were most scrupulous in burying those who were crucified. The Roman punishment of crucifixion, however, included the leaving of the body until it was devoured by the fowls of the air. As soon as the Jews had discovered that our Lord was dead, or, perhaps, without waiting for that assurance, and certainly before the malefactors were dead, they went to the city to Pilate, and they scrupulously pleaded their law in order that the bodies might be buried. It would have been defilement if they had remained any night upon the cross; but much more when that night was the eve of the sabbath, and of one of such high solemnity as the sabbath within the feast of the Passover. 53. an high day.—“That sabbath was an high day, by reason that there was a concurrence of the Passover and the sabbath, both at once, in that one day." (Bishop Hall.) 54 their legs. The Jews asked this as a means of hastening death in ordinary practice-so contemporary authors testify. Bishop Pearson has the following:-" Although, indeed, it must be confessed that the crucifragium and the crucifixion were two several punishments, and that ordinarily made the cross a lingering death; yet, because the Law of Moses did not suffer the body of a man to hang upon a tree in the night, therefore the Romans, so far to comply with the Jews, did break the legs of those they crucified in Judæa constantly; whereas, in other countries, they did it but occasionally." The shock might cause death to those already enfeebled; but in case it did not, they would receive a stroke upon the breast, which instantly did so. Pilate was not inclined to object to this request of the rulers; the sooner all signs of the execution that had given him so much trouble were removed, the sooner would the whole transaction be forgotten. The soldiers. sent on this errand were different from those already mentioned as in charge of the execution; they were despatched on this particular service in compliance with the request of the rulers. 55. the first. Probably, simply the first to whom they came—the nearest to the city. 56. dead already.-They saw at once, what their comrades, who had been all the while on the spot, knew well, that Christ was really dead; but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he otherwise, in obedience to their orders, they would have done the same in His case, as in that of the malefactors. But, lest He should be in a trance only, one of these men pierced His heart with a wound that must have been mortal. Bishop Pearson says that the spear was "directed by an inveterate malice;" and, in rage that their cruelty should be prevented by His death, they endeavoured, "with foolish revenge, to kill a dead man." But we need scarcely think they designed to offer this wanton indignity to the dead. Had they done so, the breaking of the legs would far more effectively have defaced the dead body; but Pilate's sentiments were known, and would prevent such outrage, which was also unlike the habits of Roman soldiers. They did not, therefore (so God's providence provided), break Christ's legs; nor need we, with Bishop Pearson, Greswell, and others, suppose that they wounded His side simply as an act of barbarity. The orders given to make sure would, in such a case, be peremptory. Ford says: "God would have none of His bones broken, or taken off from the communion of His natural Body, to illustrate the indissoluble union which was betwixt Him and His members." The ancient writers speak to the same effect, that thus is given to us a lesson against schism, as dividing the Body of Christ. 57. blood and water.-This has been subjected to much medical criticism, both in ancient and modern times; the evidence given is conflicting, there being no possibility of any absolute decision. But this much appears to be generally agreed on, that the spear-point reached the heart, or at least the pericardium; and that such a wound must have proved mortal, had not Christ been already dead. The weight of opinion seems to lean to the impression that our Lord literally gave His life's blood a ransom for the sins of the world; that the intense mental anguish of the agony in the garden, and subsequently on the cross, resulted in rupture of the heart. This, it is said, would cause blood to escape into the pericardium; and the effect, on the piercing of the pericardium after death, would be the flow of a considerable quantity of clotted blood and watery fluid. Greswell thinks this "discharge of blood and water too great and extraordinary to be accounted for on any natural principle; and, therefore, strictly miraculous." But what was the object of such a miracle? and what authority is there for saying it was a "great" discharge? S. John's word, "came there out" (not flowed), is an extremely mild term in the original. If the above opinion is correct, the coincidence with Ps. lxix. 20,"Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness," etc., is striking. If, however, the actual cause of death must remain a question, the agreement of medical authority as to the positive fact of death is of considerable importance. But S. John, in narrating it, is that saw it bare record, and his record is true and he apparently unconscious of the proof of death which he affords; for this was never seriously questioned in the days in which he lived. But he attaches a mysterious interest to the "blood and water," as typical of the two Sacraments. His Gospel (John vi. 33-63) speaks much of sacramental truth in spiritual language; and we find a very distinct allusion to the water and the blood in 1 John v. 6-8. It is evident that his mind was very strongly impressed with this subject. The ancient writers take, very strongly, the sacramental interpretation of his words; the tendency of the opinion is expressed and condensed in the following words of Hooker (v. 56, 7):-"The Church is in Christ, as Eve was in Adam; yea, by grace we are every one of us in Christ, and in His Church, as by nature we are in those, our first parents. God made Eve of the rib of Adam. And His Church He frameth out of the very flesh, the very wounded and bleeding side, of the Son of man. His body crucified, and His blood shed, for the life of the world, are the true elements of that heavenly being, which maketh us such as Himself is, of whom we come. For which cause, the words of Adam may be fitly the words of Christ concerning His Church, 'flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bones.' The mixed chalice of water and wine in the Lord's Supper, was derived from this circumstance. Theophylact, in the eleventh century, says: "Shame upon them who mix not water with the wine in the holy mysteries; they seem as if they believed not that the water flowed from the side." In the fourth century we have the words of SS. Augustine and Chrysostom, which may favour the practice; the former says: "that blood was shed for the remission of sins, that waters tempers the cup of salvation;" the latter: "this being the source whence the holy mysteries are derived, when thou approachest the awful cup, approach it as if thou wert about to drink out of Christ's side." Bede argues that the water represents the people, and the mixture the union of Christ and His people; and that this is also shown in the mixture of the water with the flour whence the bread is made; and further, that in this Sacrament the death of Christ on behalf of His people, thus united to Him, is shown forth before God. This mystical and pious observance is not, however, clearly contemplated in our Lord's institution, nor is it evidently deduced from the passages before us. It is certainly safer not, in any way, to add to the simplicity of the elements as ordained by Christ, in a matter of such supreme moment as the Holy Sacrament; therefore, the Church of England, in not prescribing the admixture of water, without condemning an ancient practice, simply and safely went back to the original ordinance of Christ, and took that exactly as her standard; and decides that standard legal. 58. bare record.-This solemn attestation directs our attention to the great importance of the fact mentioned. We have the concurrence knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken. And another scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced. of these witnesses given to us here; that of S. John as an eye-witness, and the coincidence, both of Scripture type and prophecy. The object of their witness is that we, of all ages, to the end of time, might believe the fact of Christ's death, its fulfilment of type and prophecy, and also the mystery of "eternal life, which God has given to us" (the Church of Christ) "in His Son." We may not fully comprehend this mystery now, as men of old understood not type and prophecy; but it is faithfully recorded, "that we might believe." 59. a bone.-God had fore-ordained that there should be no mutilation of the form of Christ, this being no way necessary to the work of redemption, and also contrary to the lessons of unity in His Body, the Church, founded upon it. (See note 56.) We see how wonderfully this was brought about, and yet how naturally, in the action of the soldiers. We see also the careful preservation of the typical lamb (Ex. xii. 46); the order for which is reiterated with a certain significance in Num. ix. 12. We find also, in Ps. xxxiv. 20, a distinct reference to this, with reference to God's preservation of the righteous in the path of obedience, which must have been striking to the mind of a Jew; but the type is fulfilled only in Christ. 60. pierced. The exact words of the prophet are stronger than the rendering of the Evangelist: "They shall look on Me whom they have pierced;" i.e. He whom they pierced was God. This prophecy of Zech. xii. 10 refers to the time of the restoration of Israel, when God shall pour out upon them the spirit of reformation and grace, which may have had a partial fulfilment before the time of the Messiah, in their return to God, whose heart they had pierced with grief, for their waywardness and their sorrows. But no one can read the language of the prophet without seeing its fitness of application to the days of future glory, when "all Israel shall be saved:" then shall they own the Saviour, whom their fathers pierced; and the prophecy is an assurance that, if they look in penitence, they shall be forgiven. But this prophecy must be read also in connection with that in Rev. i. 7, where "they which pierced Him," are ranked amongst those who "shall wail because of Him." We notice how entirely the personal act of the soldier, who caused this wound in the execution of his orders, is passed over, in its appropriation to those whose unbelief and rejection of Christ really compassed His death. The margin refers also to the piercing of Christ's hands and feet, and the staring crowd which gaped upon Him (Ps. xxii. 16). Easter Ebe. XXXII. CHRIST IS BURIED. S. Matt. xxvii. 57-61; S. Mark xv. 42-47; S. Luke xxiii. 50-56; And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom. of God, who also himself was Jesus' disciple, but secretly for fear of the Jews: and he was a good man, and a just, (the same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them ;) this man went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if He were already dead; and calling unto him the centurion, 1. the even.-As the sabbath commenced at sunset, this must have been quite late in the afternoon; for Christ was not yet dead at the ninth hour, that is, three o'clock. 2. the preparation.—(See xxx. f. 38.) We have here the full designation of this day. 3. a rich man. Thus was fulfilled (and the Evangelist intentionally points it out) the prophecy of Is. liii. 9. This Joseph was of Arimathea, generally supposed to be Ramathaim, the birthplace of Samuel (1 Sam. i. 1, 19); he was a member of the Sanhedrim; of repute for his personal character, no less than for his wealth and official position. He was one of those whose mind was bent upon the hope of Israel, the kingdom of the Messiah; and he believed in his heart that Jesus was the Christ. In this persuasion, either by his absence, or the refusal of his vote (the phrase "had not consented " is a decided one, and suggests a veto), he had taken no part in any of the councils held against Christ's life and reputation, nor in His condemnation, thus dissenting from "the counsel and deed" of Caiaphas and his colleagues. The death of Christ, the touchstone of so many hearts, brought his belief to a late crisis, and decided him in favour of Christ, though dead. His former hesitation, and present decision, are suggested and contrasted in the words of S. Mark, "he went in boldly unto Pilate." An early and well-known tradition states that Joseph afterwards went and preached the Gospel of Christ in Britain. 4. already dead. The order of narrative appears distinct, that Joseph went after the departure of the soldiers, to whom Pilate had |