it, (as Felix did to Paul, when made to tremble on his Judgment-feat by the irrefiftible force of his preaching of righteoufnefs, temperance, and judgment to come:) "Go thy way for this time; when I have

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a convenient season, I will call for thee:" let us reflect that no season can be so proper for repentance, as that wherein our conscience makes us tremble at the fear of having offended God; and, whilft time and opportunity are afforded us, make our calling and election fure. In this we cannot fail, if we follow the rules laid down for us in the Gospel.

As St. John does not mention the miraculous darkness, and other fupernatural events which took place at the time of our Lord's crucifixion, I fhall introduce the account of them from St. Matthew, (chap. xxvii. ver. 45. to 54.) “Now from "the fixth hour there was darkness over "all the land unto the ninth hour. And "about the ninth hour Jefus cried with "a loud voice, faying, Eli, Eli, lama “sabachthani? that is to fay, My God,

my God, why haft thou forfaken me? "Some of them that ftood there, when

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they heard that, faid, this man calleth " for Elias. And ftraightway, one of "them ran and took a fpunge, and filled "it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, " and gave him to drink. The reft faid, "Let be, let us fee whether Elias will come "to fave him. Jefus, when he had cried "again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghoft: And behold, the vail of the temple was rent in twain, from the top "to the bottom: and the earth did quake, " and the rocks rent; and the graves

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were opened; and many bodies of the "faints which flept, arofe, and came out "of the graves after his refurrection, and "went into the holy city, and appeared 66 unto many. Now when the centurion, " and they that were with him, watching Jefus, faw the earthquake, and thofe things that were done, they feared great"ly, faying, Truly this was the Son of

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"God."

To understand the full effect of this premature darkness, we must take notice that, by the mode in which the Jews reckoned their time; that is, by dividing their day into four equal parts, (which still fubfifts in all the Eastern countries;) the fixth hour with them was all that space of time between our nine o'clock in the morning and noon, and the ninth hour from that time to our three o'clock in the afternoon: confequently, the time in which this darkness prevailed, was from noonday till three in the afternoon. This darkness, if produced by an eclipse of the fun, was not the lefs miraculous; becaufe all eclipfes of the fun, from the very nature of things, take place in the season of the new moon. Now, the day on which our Lord was crucified, the moon was at the full, (it being the fifteenth of the moon, as we learn from history): it was no partial eclipse, but was feen over all the earth that was under the fame hemifphere befides, no natural eclipse can

laft

laft three hours: so that it appears evident that this was a miraculous eclipse; which, together with the earthquake-the rending the vail of the temple, (a token that Jehovah was about to desert it, and that the Jews were no longer to continue his peculiar people, nor for the future to have the entire charge of his word and ordinances, the Christian dispensation being equally offered to Jew and Gentile)—and the other uncommon convulfions of nature, were denunciations of the wrath of God, and his abhorrence of the iniquities then carrying on. As to the opening of the graves, and the appearance of many of the faints at Jerufalem, it seems not to have taken place till after our Lord's refurrection; although St. Matthew, speaking of all the prodigies of that period, introduces it here.

The above particulars will serve to explain the cause why the time of the commemoration of thefe events is not fixed to any particular day, but varies with the moon; as our Good-Friday must always 4N 2

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be that which comes nearest to the full of the moon at that feafon; and this regulates all the rest.

The centurion and the guard who were watching Chrift muft, naturally, have been greatly terrified as well as astonished at the prodigies they were witneffes of; and, having no prejudices of their own to combat, they open their hearts to conviction, and glorify God by a confeffion of the truth-that Jefus was the Son of God.

"19. And Pilate wrote a title, and put "it on the crofs. And the writing was JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING "OF THE JEWS.

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20. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jefus was "crucified was nigh to the city: and it "was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and "Latin.

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"21. Then faid the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of "the Jews; but that he said, I am King "of the Jews.

"22. Pilate