awe at the death of the Son of God.  During the hours of the darkness the waves swept over his soul, as the cry “my God” shows to our reverent thought.  But the last word of trust proves that the dying Jesus was not forsaken, and that Calvary, like Gethsemane, was a battle won.  The earlier sayings all express Jesus’ continued spirit of ministry, showing even in his bitter pain his accustomed thoughtfulness for others’ need.

206.  It is futile to speculate on the cause of Jesus’ early death.  He certainly suffered a much shorter time than was ordinarily the case, as appears in the fact that at sunset it was necessary to break the legs of the robbers so as to hasten death, Jesus having already been some time dead.  There is something attractive in the theory of Dr. Stroud (The Physical Cause of Christ’s Death) that Jesus died of rupture of the heart.  It may have been true, but the evidences on which he based his argument are insufficient for proof.  To the Jews the death of their victim did not give all the satisfaction they desired.  In the first place, Pilate insisted on mocking them by posting over the head of Jesus the placard, “The King of the Jews” (see John xix. 19-22); moreover, their haste had brought the crime into close proximity to the feast which they were eager to keep from defilement; so that they had still to beg of Pilate that he would hasten the death of the victims, that their bodies might not remain to desecrate the following Sabbath sanctity (John xix. 31-37); while for those who witnessed it the death of Jesus deepened the impression that a hideous crime had been committed in the slaughter of an innocent man (Mark xv. 39).

207.  Among the bystanders few of the disciples of Jesus were to be found—­they were hiding in fear.  Yet some faithful women, and two courageous councillors of Jerusalem, were bold enough to make their loyalty known.  These two men, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, were members of the sanhedrin, but they had had no part in the condemnation of Jesus; and after knowing that he was dead, Joseph begged of Pilate the body, and he and Nicodemus took Jesus down from the cross and laid him in a tomb which Joseph owned near the place of crucifixion, rendering such tender ministries as were possible in the closing hours of the day.  The women who had witnessed his end meanwhile were arranging also to anoint the body.  They took notice where the two friends had laid him, and then went away to rest on the Sabbath day, according to the commandment.

208.  To the Jews it was a high day, the first Sabbath in the eight days of their holy feast (John xix. 31).  They had eagerly guarded their conduct that no ceremonial defilement might prevent their sharing in the paschal feast.  They believed that they had rid their nation of a dangerous disturber of its peace, and men whose conscience shrank not from making God’s house a house of merchandise, who would punish one who ventured to cure a mortal disease if