ment of Archelaus by Augustus, the Jews received Roman governors, of whom Pontius Pilate was the fifth, Judæa being made a part of the province of Syria.

II. His Office. He was Procurator of Judæa, a subordinate of the President of Syria, but, on account of the rebellious character of the Jews, furnished with the extraordinary power of life and death, and thus Christ's death was brought about in a manner not prescribed in Moses' law. The chief-priests, who " condemned Him to be guilty of death," (Mark xiv. 64.) yet could not condemn Him to die, but "delivered Him up unto Pilate" (Mark xv. 1.), and when Pilate told them to take Him and judge Him by their law (John xviii. 31.), they answered "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death," meaning 'not lawful' as regarded the Roman Empire, Pilate being now supreme civil governor of the Jews.

III. His Character. The conduct of Pilate shows him as an unjust and impious man. He knew that it was 'for envy' the chief-priests 'delivered Him' (Matt. xxvii. 18.); he declared Him to be innocent (Luke xxiii. 14. 22.); he was warned by his wife (Matt. xxvii. 19.); he was 'the more afraid,' when he heard that He 'made Himself the Son of God' (John xix. 7, 8.), yet he condemned and crucified Him. He thus acted in order to mollify the Jews, whom he had exasperated by his tyranny, insolence avarice rapacity. When he entered on his govern

SECTION III. Was crucified.

I. MESSIAS was to be crucified.

(1) The types of this are (a) Isaac, who, being the 'only son' and' beloved son' (Gen. xxii. 2.) of Abraham, bore the wood for the sacrifice of himself, as Christ did; (b) the brazen serpent, John iii. 14; (c) the Paschal lamb, (the manner of roasting which, according to Justin Martyr, represented a man affixed to the cross), and the command 'ye shall not break a bone thereof,” Exod. xii. 46. and no bone of Christ was broken, though it was usual in crucifixion; see John xix. 31-34. and cf. ver. 36. with Psal. xxxiv. 20.

(2) The prophecies are (a) Zech. xii. 10. "they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced;" (b) Psal. xxii. 16. "they pierced My hands and My feet." See John xix. 37. for the application of (a).

II. Christ undoubtedly was crucified, by the Gospel accounts; see Matt. xxvi. 2; John xix. 15; Luke xxiii. 24; Matt. xxvii. 26. 31; John xix. 27: the reality of Christ's crucifixion, as against the heretic Basilides, is proved by John xx. 25. 27.

III. Christ was crucified on a charge of sedition, as far as Pilate was concerned. He was accused by the Jews as perverting the nation, Luke xxiii. 2. and the people cried out to Pilate, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend," John xix. 12. By the Jewish law He was to die as a blasphemer, but as a Roman governor, being a heathen, would not notice such a charge, the Jews brought Him before Pilate as a state prisoner, cf. especially Acts xxv. 14-27. of the similar case of St Paul.

IV. The two points in the punishment of crucifixion are (a) the lingering torture, whence the Roman expressions for pain and cruciation; (b) the ignominy; it was the punishment of slaves, and the usual mode of death for sedition; and the body was left exposed on the cross after death.

our sins, according to the Scriptures." (a) This was represented by types, as by Isaac, whom Abraham is said to have 'offered up,' Heb. xi. 17. and to have 'received from the dead,' v. 19. and by the Paschal lamb, cf. Heb. xiii. 11, 12, (6) Prophecies. Isai. liii. 7, 8. 10. "He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter-was cut off out of the land of the living—made His soul an offering for sin."

II. Christ did really and truly die. I Cor. v. 7. "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." His soul was separated from His body: Luke xxiii. 46. "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," and "he gave up the ghost." His enemies believed in His death: the attendant convulsions of nature testified the death of nature's God: the Roman soldiers found Him already dead, when they came to break His legs; and they pierced His side, and there came out water and blood, cf. John xix. 34. and 1 John v. 6. The water and blood were both signs of His death and of the two sacraments: baptism; those that are 'baptized unto Jesus Christ" are "baptized into His death," Rom. vi. 3; and the Lord's Supper; "as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye shew the Lord's death till He come," I Cor. xi. 26.

Christ voluntarily took on Himself the necessity of dying; and when He had so submitted, His mortal frame succumbed to the torments of the cross, which naturally caused His death. Pilate marvelled that He was dead so soon, Mark xv. 44. but Christ was worn with the agony in Gethsemane, and when the centurion said Truly this was the Son of God" because "He cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost," the miracle was not that he should die after crucifixion, but that at the point of death He should cry out so loud, Mark xv. 37. 39. .

III. But, though the union of the parts (soul and body) of His human nature was dissolved by death, yet the union of the two natures (Divine and human) remained as to the parts, and neither soul nor body was separated from the Divinity; and so, in the language of the Creed, the same Person (i. e. the eternal Son of God, as has been proved) who was conceived,' 'born,' was buried," in His body, 66 descended into Hell" with His soul, and neither body

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nor soul lost the hypostatical union with the Word. Christ's innocence and obedience preclude the idea of the Divine nature being withdrawn from Him: His exclamation "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" implies only that He was bereft of Divine comfort in His torments and, finally, the external violence which caused the separation of Christ's soul and body in His human nature, could in no wise act upon His Divine nature, and separate that from either His soul or His body.

I.

SECTION V. And buried.

MESSIAS was to be buried.

This would follow from the custom of the Jews (among whom He was to die), of burying their dead.

(a) His burial was represented in type: Jonah in the whale's belly, Matt. xii. 40.

(b) In prophecy. Psal. xvi. 9, 10. My flesh shall rest in hope; for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, &c." Isai. liii. 9. He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death."

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II. Christ was buried, contrary to the Roman custom of leaving the bodies of the crucified to the birds, air and weather, and of placing a guard to prevent the removal of the body, Matt. xxvii. 54. But prophecy was fulfilled (a) owing to the Jewish custom of burying criminals on the day of execution, Deut. xxi. 22, 23; John xix. 31; (b) owing to the interposition of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathæa, ordained by God that Christ might make His grave with the rich, Isai. liii. 9., and not, in the natural course, as a criminal. See Matt. xxvii; Mark xv ; Luke xxiii; John xix. He was buried with spices, and linen clothes, according to Jewish custom, John xix. 40. He had already been anointed for His burying by the woman who brake the box of ointment, Mark xiv. 3. 8. Cf. Mark xvi. 1; Luke xxiv. 1. On the linen clothes, cf. John xi. 44; xx. 6, 7: On the sepulchre, see Matt. xxvii. 60; Mark xv. 46; John xix. 41.

ARTICLE V.

He descended into Hell, the third day He rose again
from the dead.

SECTION I. He descended into Hell.

I. THIS proposition was not so anciently, nor so universally, in the Creed, as the rest. It was first used in the Creed of the church of Aquileia, in Italy, before A.D. 400; then it came into the Roman and other creeds. The Descent into Hell was made one of the Articles of Religion at the Reformation; and the 42 Articles of Edward VI's reign alluded to 1 Pet. iii. 19., in proof thereof. The 39 Articles (Article III.) omit this reference, though the passage from 1 Pet. iii. is retained in the Epistle for Easter-even.

IO.

II. This proposition, in the Aquileian Creed, stood, "Descendit in inferna," which some of the Greeks translated 'hell, from Acts ii. 27. (quoting Psal. xvi. "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell"), others "the lower parts," from Eph. iv. 9. "He descended into the lower parts of the earth."

III. In the Aquileian Creed Christ's Burial was not mentioned; and Ruffinus declares that the Roman and Eastern creeds by buried' implied the "descendit in inferna" of the Aquileian Creed. Now, however, since the Roman Creed has both Descent and Burial, the Descent into Hell requires explanation. It becomes, therefore, necessary to enquire in what passages of Scripture this doctrine is virtually contained.

(a) Many ancient Fathers quote Eph. iv. 9. “Now that He ascended, what is it but that He descended first into the lower parts of the earth?" of the Descent of Christ's soul into Hell. But we cannot be sure that St Paul speaks of a descent after Christ's death: or, if so, that the lower parts of the earth mean hell. The lower parts of the earth, too, may only mean the place beneath, cf. John viii. 23; Acts ii. 19. The words may refer to