might be crucified, and the former acquitted ? O ! see, my soul, in this wonderful humiliation of thy Lord, how deep, how dangerous was the wound of pride, which could not be cured but by such and so great humility : O! see if thine be yet cured. Examine also thyself, if thou hast not often been guilty, like these blind Jews, of preferring Barabbas to thy Saviour ; by turning thy back to him for some petty interest, or filthy plea sure ? If so, thou art more inexcusable than they, because thou knowest him to be the Lord of glory, at the same time as thou persecutest him by sin : whereas if they had known him to be so, they would never have preferred a Barabbas before him.
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY.
Our Saviour is scouraged at the Pillar and crowned with Thorns.
Consider, how the Jews still continuing to cry out against our Lord, and in a tumultuous manner to demand his crucifixion, Pilate contrives another way to bring about his being set at liberty, viz. by striving to satisfy their cruelty, in ordering him to he most severely scourged. O! Pilate, how cruel is thy mercy! Is it thus that thou treatest him whom, thou declarest innocent? Is this thy justice? But our sins, O my soul, required that the Lord of glory should be thus cruelly treated, and subjected to this ignominious punishment, to which none but common slaves or the meanest wretches are liable, and to which a Roman citizen could upon no account be condemned. Stand thou, my soul, and see in what manner this sentence is executed. Behold how the bloody soldiers lay their impious hands on this meek Lamb of God, how they strip off all his clothes, and tie him fast to a stony pillar;
