the People of Israel and together with him the Daughter of a King of the Midianites who would surely make it a National Quarrel This was such a thing as God would not let vs be ignorant of and therefore he plainly tells us that the Name of the Man was g v. 14. Zimri the Son of Salu a Prince of the cheif family among thr Simeonites and that the Woman was h v. 15. Cozbi the Daughter of Zur who as he tells us i XXXI 8. elsewhere was one of the five Kings of Midian Such an Heroic Action as this was being done in pure Zeal for Gods Cause was so highly acceptable to him that thereupon he stopt his hand and would not suffer the Plague to proceed any farther And not onely so but as well for a Reward to Phineas at present as for a Memorial of it in future times God gave him the promise of continuing the Priesthood to him and his seed after him for ever 120. By this one Act of his it came to pass that this Judgment of The Plague held but one day God was no more than k 〈◊〉 Cor. X. 9. one days work It was l Num. XXV 18. the Day of the Plague as Moses calls it But in that short space of time there dyed m v. 9. of the Plague no fewer than 24000. Moses elsewhere has told us that those were n Deut. IV. 3. all the Men that followed Baal-Peor And that none dyed after this day till the Date of the Book o Deut. I. 3. of Deuteronomy which was but one Month before his death This is certain from what he told them in the next words p v. 4. You that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day 121. No doubt they that saw this terrible Judgment of God Moses's last numbring of the People though they knew how just it was upon them that perished in it yet could not but be in some kind of fear for themselves none of them being secure but that living as they did among those Idolatrous Nations with whom God would not let them be in hostility they might by conversing with them be ensnared into some Sin or other for which they might perish in like manner God was pleased therefore to let them know that the danger they were in on that account was not long to continue There was onely the a Num. XXVI 3. River Iordan between them and the Land which God had promised to their Fathers Their next Remove would bring them thither And when they had taken possession of that Land which God could give them as easily as he had given them all on this side Iordan they were then b 53 ... 55. to divide it for an Inheritance among themselves To let them see it was the Care of Gods Providence that it should be equally shared he was pleased to order c v. 1. Moses and Eleazar the High Priest to make a second Numbring of the People like that which Moses and Aaron had d Num. l. 1. formerly made in the Wilderness of Sinai It could not but comfort them to see that after the dying away of more than e v. 46. 600000 men that had been then Numbred many of them no doubt dying Natural deaths but all the rest save f Num. XXVI 65. onely Ioshua and Caleb having been swept away by those Judgments of God that had fallen upon them within these last 38. Years yet now they were but g v. 51. 1120. men fewer than they were at that former Numbring which small Number of men might very likely have been lost by their own Miscarriages in the h XXI 31 35. Conquering of those two Kingdoms 122. All this while as well they as their Fathers before them They had now all Extraordinary means had continually before their Eyes those i v. 71 86 93. evident proofs of Gods presence among them in the Pillar of fire all night and of cloud all day either moving before them or resting over the Tabernacle They had the k Deut. VIII 3. Manna which their Bread was made of immediately from Heaven They had their l v. 15. Water first out of one Rock and then out of another still following them all the while they were in the Wilderness None of them had his Raiment waxen old nor his m v 4. and XXIX 1. Shoes grown uneasy to his feet in all these 40. Years God was pleased to let them know that his design in all this was as well to n v. 2 3 16. humble them seeing they had nothing they could call their own as also to teach them to live in an entire Dependance on his Providence 123. There was certainly Need of such Extraordinary ways to With little of the Ordinary instruct them and to mind them of their duties there being then so little of the Ordinary means which God gave to his People in after times They had not the Sacrament of o Iosh. V. 5. Circumcision since their coming up out of Egypt They had no p v. 10 12. Passeover since the second Year after that They had no written Rule to walk by but onely that of the q Ex. XX. Ten Commandments r XXXIV 27. written in Tables of stone and they had also those National Judgments which are all conteined in s Ex. XXI XXII XXIII three Chapters of Exodus Whatsoever Teaching they had more it could be no other than what they had from the mouth of Moses for he writ nothing till the last l Deut. XXXI 9 25. year of his life 124. And yet perhaps no people in the world ever needed teaching Their great Degeneracy more than they did For though they were Abraham's Seed by Sarah his wife and that according to the a Gen. XVII 19. promise of God which was their great Privilege yet even that did not free them from Original Corruption that came to them from much nearer Parents than Abraham and Sarah The immediate Fathers of the Twelve Tribes of Israel were the Twelve Sons of Iacob by whose names they were called But for these Patriarchs how any of them lived or what they did we have no Account in any other Book but that of Genesis and even there we have nothing told us particularly but of the four Eldest Sons and of Ioseph And though this last appears to us wholely without Spot yet of those four others the most that we know is of their Crimes We cannot read of the Incests of b Gen. XXXV 22. Reuben and c XXXVIII 18. Iudah the Faithbreach and Cruelty of d XXXIV 27. Simeon and Levi without sad reflections on the Ignorance of those times For the rest of Iacob's Sons God has not been pleased to let us know any thing of them save only this that when those two Bloudy men were for e XXXVII
land they had despised they must now go wandring the rest of their days in the wilderness For this they e v. 45. wept before the Lord. They would have got him to take off that sentence but that could not be only this God was pleased to change in it whereas he had ordered them to begin their Journey to morrow into the wilderness and so on f Num. XIV 45. to the Red Sea Num. XIV 45. Now in compassion to their wounded men he gave them leave to lie still g Deut. l. 46. many daies till they were so well cured as to be able to go with the rest 98. After this they took their Iourney into the wilderness as God They wâ—…nder 38 yeâ—…rs in the wilderness had commanded them Their way was now directly from Canaan toward the h Deut. II. 1. Red Sea But it was not the same way that they came hither For now they were to i v. 4. compass the land of Edom Deut. II. 1 4. first from North to South till they came to the Red Sea and then from South to North still compassing k v. 8. Idumaea till they came to the wilderness of Moab Deut. II. 8. There they were to pass the brook l v. 13. Zered v. 13. And so they did thirty eight years after their coming from m v. 14. 1â—… Kadesh-Barnea In which time all those that came out of Egypt at the age of twenty years old and upward were n v. 16. consumed and dead from among the people It was a long and tedious Journey as God ordered it for them For it was at his Commandment that they journied and at his Commandment they pitched their Camp His pleasure was fignified to them by the Pillar of Cloud by day and of Fire by night When the Pillar was taken up from the Tabernacle then after that they journied and wheresoever that rested there they pitched their Camp The way of it is largely and clearly a Num. IX 15 23. described Num. IX 15 23. And whereas from Kadesh Barnea to the Red Sea it was not above b Bp. Patrick on Nâ—…m XXXIII 19. â—…en days Journey the shortest way they made it a Journey of 37 years in all which time they had no more than 17 Resting places So that if in every one of those places they had rested an equal space of time every time they had rested it would have been more than two years No doubt in some places they rested a less time and in some much longer Then from Ezion Geber at the Red Sea they went somewhat quicker to the Brook Zered which was in the Confines of Moab They went it in one year during which they had no more but eight Resting places But now they had been full thirty and eight years in coming from Kadesh Barnea to the Brook Zered which as we are told by one c Geo. Synceâ—…us in Chronogr p. 142. 〈◊〉 Paris that travel'd it himself is no more than five days Iourney Thus it pleased God to give those Rebel's time to dye in the wilderness as every one of them did within those thirty eight years in all which time a New Generation was growing up which Ioshua and Caleb were to bring into the promised Land and there to shew them how that good Land was belied by their ungrateful and rebellious Fathers 99 Of what they did in those first thirty seven years or what Of their three last Rebellions happen'd to them in all that time we have very little Information in History only Moses gives us an account of three of their Rebellions in that time which shewed how far they were from being reclaim'd by all their warnings and punishments 100. The first of these Rebellions was that which Korah and his 〈◊〉 that of Korah Complices raised against Moses and Aaron It was as the d Ios. Ant. IV. 1. Iewish Historian tells us such a Sedition as never was known among the Greek or Barbarous Nations The chief mover in it was Korah a Levite whose father Izhar was Brother to Amram the father of Moses and Aaron He was himself a chief man among those of his Tribe but he was not contented with that He was for the Chief Priesthood if he could get it But there was no other way to come at that but by breaking through the divine Institution of the three Orders of the Ministry It was by God's immediate e Ex. XXIX Command that Moses had f Lev. IX consecrated Aaron and his Sons to be Priests which Act of his God had confirmed by sending Fire from heaven on their Sacrifice in the sight of all the People of Israel g Lev. IX 24. Lev. IX 24. He had also given them the Levites to assist them h Num. III. 9. VIII 19. Num. III. 9. VIII 19. in all the inferior parts of their ministry But this was it which Korah could not endure He was for the Priesthood himself and so were others of his Tribe Num. XVI 10. Which since God had taken from them they would have it of the People's Gift The People of Israel could not forget that before this Divine Institution the Priesthood had gone by Primogeniture It was i instead of all the First born of Israel that God took the Levites into Num. III. 12 〈◊〉 his Service Num. III. 12 41. For this reason it seems that Korah applied himself to Dathan and Abiram the Sons of Reuben who was the first-born Son of Israel together with them there were a Nuâ—… XVI 〈◊〉 3. two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly famous in the Congregation that rose against Moses and Aaron It appears that all these took the Priesthood upon them as well as Korah himself For b v. 1â—… they took every man his Censer and put fire in them no doubt from the Altar of God and laid incense thereon to offer it before the Lord. He that was not a Priest and did this was to be put to death Num. III. 10 38. * King Uzzialâ—… attempting to burn incense to God though he was not put to death he was chastised with the utmost severity for it n Câ—…ron XXVI 16 21. The Leprosy rose up in his Foreâ—… at that Instant and they that saw it thrust hâ—… out of the Temple yea himself also hasted to go out and he dwelâ—… ever after in a separate house being a Leper unto the day of his death and Iotham his Son took upon him the Government of Israel 2 Chron XXVI 16 21. This they could not but know But they would venture it thinking perhaps that the Laws which Moses delivered from God concerning the Priesthood were not God's but his Own made in favour of and Combination with his Brother Aaron If they had not thought so they would not have dared to break out into such Language as they c Nuâ—… XVI 〈◊〉 gave Moses and Aaron v. 3. When they
He whom these served so thirsted for the Blood of this Righteous Man that he cared not which way he came by it It was at Caiaphas his House after he could make nothing of his Examination that his Officers and Servants the Men that held Iesus thus mocked and smote and Abused him Luk. XXII 63 65. All this is placed by St. Luke before the meeting of the Sanhedrin for the Judicial proceding against our Saviour vers 66. The Beginning of that Insolent Usage of our blessed Lord might be about half an hour after three in Morning For St. Luke says before this vers 58. that it was after some short time from St. Peter's first Denial of Christ that he was tempted to it The Second time It was while Peter was yet standing and warming himself that some of them that stood by Ioh. XVIII 25. namely a Maid Matt. XXVI 71. Mar. XIV 69. and a Man as St. Luke says vers 58. They as St. Iohn says in the Plural Question'd St. Peter saying to him Art not thou also one of his Disciples He denyed it and said I am not Ioh. XVIII 25 And that not being enough he confirm'd it with an Dath that he did not know the Man Matth. XXVI 72. It was at some distance of Time about an Hour after that another confidently affirm'd saying Of a Truth this man also was with them for he is a Galilean Luke XXII 59. The two first Gospels tell us that Some of them that stood by said to Peter surely thou art one of them for thy Speech bewrayeth thee Matt. XXVI 73. Mar. XIV 70. St. Iohn adds this more Particularly that one of the Servants of the High-Priest being his Kinsman whose Ear Peter cut off said did not I see thee in the Garden with him Ioh. XVIII 26. Peter finding himself now in extreme Danger began to Curse and to Swear saying I know not the Man Matt. XXVI 74. Mar. XIV 71. This being the third time in our Saviours Prediction immediately whilst he yet spake the Cock crowed Luk. XXII 60. Ioh. XVIII 27. St. Mark tells us this was the Second time the Cock crowed Mar. XIV 72 and by that Token we know that now it was †Piin. Nat. Hist. X. 21. saies beside the Crowing of the Cock at the beginning of the fourth Watch he also crowes again to give notice of Day-break Day-break By this time they that had our Saviour in their hands might have tired themselves with abusing him Howsoever it was it appears they gave him some intermission And now our blessed Lord being within hearing of St. Peter for they were then below stairs together Mar. XIV 66 and perhaps without Doors Matt. XXVI 69 71. could not but pity the poor man that in fencing for his life run that desperate hazard of his Soul and therefore Turning that way he looked on him with great Compassion Which when Peter saw it struck him deep And then he remember'd those Words of the Lord how he had said unto him before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice Luke XXII 61. Whereupon he went out and wept bitterly vers 62. On Friday morning as soon as it was day Luke XXII 66. the whole Sanhedrin met of whom St. Luke names the three Orders the Elders of the People and the chief Priests and the Scribes He tells us that all these being come together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they led up the blessed Iesus into their Court which was above-stairs in Porticu excelsiore as Grotius says on this place There at the very first they went plainly to work and shewed they would stick at nothing that would make for their purpose for they sought false Witnesses against him to prove something that would reach his life Matt. XXVI 59. Mar. XIV 55. But it seems at first they found None Ib. And though afterwards many came and offer'd themselves yet they could make nothing of it for their Witnesses disproved one another Matt. XXVI 60. Mar. XIV 56. At last there came two false Witnesses that thought to make Blasphemy of those Words which he had spoken some five years before Iohn II. 19. But they reported them so differently as we read in the two first Gospels that the Judges could not think that what these men said would give them a sufficient †〈◊〉 Hammond on Mar. XIV 59. colour for a Sentence of Death And therefore at last the High-Priest found it necessary for him to return to the way that he begun with at first to try what he could get out of our Saviour himself For that end he Asked first what he had to say against the Evidence of the Witnesses now produced But all they had said being nothing in effect our Saviour would answer nothing to that Question Matt. XXVI 62 63. Mar. XIV 60 61. Then as it follows in those two Gospels the High-Priest asked him art thou the Christ There St. Luke mentions XXII 67. something which they had omitted namely our Saviour's way of avoiding that question He said to them if I tell you I am the Christ you will not believe and if I also ask you you will not answer me nor let me go vers 67 68. His meaning was as Grotius and Dr. Hammond understand it that if he should go about to prove it by Scripture they would not Answer him as he had tried Matt. XXII 46. nor would they release him though he was the Christ of God for ought they could say to the contrary He told them what would come of this at last that after all they could do to him He the Son of man should sit as their Iudge at the right hand of the Power of God Luke XXII 69. Now they reckon'd if they could hold him to this they had enough for their turn And therefore they all run into this Question Art thou the Son of God They would have a Categorical Answer He said unto them you say that I am vers 70. Then they all said what need we any further witness For we our selves have heard of his own Mouth vers 71. But all this having past in a tumultuary way they could do nothing upon it Judicially And therefore to proceed in form of Law there being no Witness against him the Chief Priest was for putting him to his Oath I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God Matt. XXVI 63. Now our Saviour heard the voice of Swearing as they call it when a Judge thus adjures †Talmud Shebaoth IV. 5. and therefore he was bound by their Law to say the whole truth of all that was asked him or else he must suffer as guilty Levit. V. 1. To this therefore our Saviour answer'd thou hast said it as in St. Matthew that is plainly I am as it is in St. Mark 's Gospel XIV 62. And not to depart from what he had told them before he added now nevertheless tho I stand here
touched Pilate so far that as the Text saith from thenceforth Pilate sought more than ever to Release him But the Iews seeing that cryed out If thou let This Man go thou art not Caesar's Friend Whosoever makes himself a King he takes so much from Caesar vers 12. This amounted to a Threatning of Pilate with that which of all things in the World he most feared He had been guilty of so many Acts of Misgovernment which would have been brought in open View upon any Complaint that should have been made to Caesar against him that he dreaded nothing more than This. And it appeard he was in the right for by such a Complaint he was Ruin'd within few years after Therefore as it followeth in the Text When Pilate heard that Saying he brought Jesus forth and sat down on the Iudgement-Seat vers 13. And from thence having shewn that miserable Spectacle to the People now as he had done before to the Priests he said to them Behold your King vers 14. They no sooner heard it but they cryed out Away with him Crucifie him Then Pilate asked them shall I Crucifie your King The chief Priests Answer'd him We have no King but Caesar. Ioh. XIX 15. God has taken them at their Word they have had no King but Caesar's Successors ever since But here St. Iohn leaves us to the two first Gospels They tell us that Pilate when he saw he could prevail Nothing but that rather a Tumult was made he took Water and washed his Hands before the Multitude saying I am Innocent of the Blood of this just Person See you to it Then Answer'd all the People and said his Blood be upon Us and our Children Matt. XXVII 24 25. And so it is to this Day and will be till their Conversion Ioel. III. 21. Then Pilate hearing this and being willing to content the People Mar. XV. 15. he gave Sentence that it should be as they required Luke XXIII 24. And so he Released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus to be Crucified Matt. XXVII 26. Mar. XV. 15. Luk. XXIII 25. Ioh. XIX 16. It was the Preparation of the Passeover and about the sixth Hour Iob. XIX 14. when Pilate sat down on the Iudgement-Seat as was before mention'd St. Iohn reckons his Hours the Roman way as has been shewn by my learned Friend †Short View of his Harmony Prop. V. p. 116. Mr. Whiston And therefore as to the Point of Time his sixth Hour was the same as ours is at Six in the Morning But then the Romans dividing their natural Day from Sun-set to Sun-set into four Watches whereof each was of three Hours according to * cap. XXIIX Censorinus they called each of these Watches by the Name of that Hour at which it begun The Iews also reckoned their Watches in the same manner as Dr. Hammond shews on this Text. Onely with this difference that whereas the Romans called every Watch by the name of that Hour at which it began The Iews called it by the name of that Hour at which it ended So that the Space from six to nine which the Iews called the Third Hour was the sixth Hour in the Roman Account But this was common to them both that the name of the Hour at which the Trumpet sounded was continued the whole Space of 3 Hours till the Trumpet sounded again As for St. Iohn's Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about which as Mr. Whiston saith may be taken any where within that Latitude it seems most likely in this place to be intended of the middle between six and nine in the morning For there was a considerable part of this Watch already spent since Pilate enter'd upon this Business and yet as it will presently appear in this Discourse there remained Business enough to fill up the rest of the Time till Nine in the morning which was in the Jew's Account the third Hour and yet That as St. Mark tells us was the very Time of our Saviour's being Crucified Mar. XV. 25. It is also to be observed that this whole Forenoon was as St. Iohn calls it the Preparation of the Passeover the Paschal Lamb being to be Killed about 3 this Afternoon and to be Eaten after it was dark the same Evening It seems to have been toward Eight in the morning when the blessed Iesus was condemned by Pilate to that cruel and Ignominious Death Luke XXIII 24. After which our Saviour was immediatly by him delivered to his Soldiers whose Office it was to put his Sentence in Execution The Suddenness of this was against the Roman Law in all Ordinary cases for by that Law some days of Respite were Generally allowed the condemned Persons to prepare themselves for their Suffering But here was Order given for present Execution The Chief Priests could admit no Delay because the Passeover was to be within a few Hours And Pilate having yielded to them in the main Point would not break with them about any less matter especially since there was an Exception in that Law for any one that was to suffer on the Account of Sedition which was our blessed Saviour's case Therefore as soon as the Sentence was pass'd the Soldiers were presently for hurrying him away And so putting an end to their mockery they took off the Purple Robe from our Saviour and put on his own clothes Then having provided a Cross on which he was to suffer they layd that on his Shoulders to make him carry it Himself as all those used to do that were to be Crucified according to the manner of the Romans And thus our blessed Lord bearing his Cross went forth toward the place of Execution Ioh. XIX 17. But it appears he could carry it no great part of the Way being so spent and disabled that he was ready to sink under the Burthen Therefore one Simon of Cyrene who was then coming out of the Countrey happening to come in their way the Soldiers layd the Cross upon Him and compelled him to bear it after Him Matth. XXVII 32. Mark XV. 21. Luke XXIII 26. St. Luke shews that at that time there were many of the Iewish Nation who differ'd very much in their Opinion of our Saviour from those of their Brethren that had been all this morning crying out Crucifie him Crucifie him For as he there tells us vers 27. even Now when he was going to suffer there followed him a great Company of People and of Women which also bewailed and lamented him Our blessed Lord could not but have a just Sense of their Compassion toward him in his present Condition But he had a much greater Compassion for Them considering what They were to suffer within a few Years and especially the Inhabitants of the City of Ierusalem of whom there were many in that Company For as the blessed Iesus himself was now going to be cut off and so to fulfill His part of Daniel's Prophecy so he Knew the next thing there foretold was to be fulfilled upon
Chief Priests on our Saviour that he called himself King of the Iews as Pilate being vexed at their pressing him with this had it seems to vex them called him your King more then once Ioh. XIX 14 15. So now to vex them more he had it written in the Table above mention'd Iesus of Nazareth the King of the Iews It seems before this was Nailed up that many of the Iews had read it as all might that would for it was written in Hebrew Greek and Latin there being scarce any of the Iews but understood one or more of these Languages Hereupon the Chief Priests being disturbed did as it seems hinder the setting of it up for a while till they had spoken with Pilate And fain they would have perswaded him not to write the King of the Iews but that he said I am King of the Iews But Pilate did not fear their complaining to Caesar of This and therefore being as Philo says inflexible in his own Nature and Angry with them besides he Answer'd them accordingly what I have written I have written Ioh. XIX 19 22. While this matter was in Debate the Soldiers expecting the Title and having nothing else to do at present sat down and watched him there Matt. XXVII 36. It seems to have been on that Occasion of Pilate's giving our Saviour the Title of King of the Iews that their Rage which he had quieted a little before by Sentencing him to that cruel Ignominious Death now flamed out afresh to that degree that they were for punishing him More if it were possible They did what they could toward it by falling upon him in several Attaques reviling and scoffing and insulting over his Miseries First we read how the People that stood Looking upon him and the Rulers also with them Dâ—…rided him Luk. XXIII 35. wherein They fulfilld that part of the Prophecy Psal. XXII 6. in which David says in the Person of the Messias They that See me laugh me to scorn Next They also that Passed by reviled him wagging their Heads Matt. XXVII 39 40. Mar. XV. 29 30. therein fulfilling the following part of the same Prophecy But above all the rest the Sanhedrin or a Commitee of them for they were of all three Orders Chief Priests and Elders and Scribes that attended there to set on the People had so much forgot the Sacredness or even the Gravity of their Profession that they stood there mocking at him and jesting among themselves Matt. XXVII 41. Mar. XV. 31. Some of these Scoffers charged him with those Words that the false Witnesses could not agree about that he said he would destroy the Temple and build it again in three Days a plain Wresting of the Words of that Prophecy of his Death and Resurrection which was even now to be fulfilled Others scoffed at his Miracles as if his saving others were nothing unless he did now save himself And yet they could not deny he had newly raised Lazarus from the Dead and they very well knew he had foretold that after three days he would rise himself Matt. XXVII 63. The Scoff they all join'd in was at his being called the King of the Iews the King of Israel the Messias the Christ the Son of God these are severall Words for the same thing and the Scoffers used some one Word some another all agreeing in this that if he were the Christ he must come down from the Cross. But he had told them often before that he was to be lifted up Ioh. XII 34. but not once of his coming down And he was to prove his being the Messias not by his escaping Death but by his Resurrection from the Dead The strangest of all their Scoffs was in these Words He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him Matt. XXVII 43. Strange indeed that they that saw his Hands and Feet pierced when he was Nailed to the Cross and now he was hanging on it they could tell all his Boâ—…es they that saw the Soldiers parting his Garments all which things they had read in that Psalm of the Passion Psal XXII 16 17 18. should themselves use those Words which it is there foretold some would use on that Occasion Psal. XXII 8. A plain Instance of the just Judgement of God upon them for their Obstinacy that though they read the Writings of the Prophets every Day yet they fulfilled All that was written in them of our Saviours sufferings Act. XIII 27 28 29. It is no wonder that the Soldiers also mocked our Saviour when they saw it done by all those of his own Nation But these poor Heathens did it with some kind of Humanity For coming to him they offerd him Vinegar Luke XXIII 36 37. This being mingled with Water was their common Drink †See Mâ—…ill in Ioh. XIX not XXXVI And no doubt it was in compassion that they offer'd it to him it was for the asswaging of his Thirst which could not but be very great after his violent Sweatâ—… and so much loss of Blood The Soldiers at this time having received the Table with that Superscription before mention'd were order'd to Nail it on the Top of the Cross above our Saviour's Head Luke XXIII 38. Which being done they were now at Leisure to do what they had left undone at the time of their dividing our Saviour's Garments They had then laid aside the Seamless Coat and now they cast Lots to know whose it should be So Now they had fulfilled the whole Prophetical verse in that Psalm of the Passion Psal. XXII 18. where David saith not of himself but the Messias They parted my Raiment among them and for my Vesture they did cast Lots They had fulfilled the former part of it before Matt. XXVII 35. Now the latter part also was accomplished Thâ—…se things therefore the Soldiers did Ioh. XIX 23 24. Of all sorts of men Iews and Gentiles that were present at our Saviour's Sufferings there were none but had already taken their Turn in reviling and scoffing at him but onely the two Thieves that were Crucified with him But they also having heard what the Chief Priests said of him that if he were Christ he should now come down from the Cross they cast the same in his Teeth Matt. XXVII 44. Mar. XV. 32. But it was onely one of them did this as we learn from Luke XXIII 39. He said if thou be Christ save they self and Us. The other hearing this rebuked him for it and told him how different their Case was from Christ's We indeed suffer justly for we receive the due Reward of our Deeds but this Man has done nothing amiss vers 40 41. It appears by what this man said of Christs Innocency that he knew of his Holy and Exemplary Life He knew also of his Doctrine and Miracles So far as to be thereby converted though Probably not till since his committing those Crimes for which he suffer'd This appears by his Prayer that he made