FATHER FORGIVE THEM.

And when they were come to the place, which is

called calvary, there they crucified Him,

and the malefactors, one on the right hand,

and the other on the left. Then said Jesus,

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

And they parted His raiment, and cast lots.

And the people stood beholding. Luke 23vs33-35.

They gave Jesus the place of dishonour. Reckoning Him to be the worst criminal of the three, they put Him between the other two. They heaped upon Him the utmost scorn which they could give to a malefactor, and in so doing they unconsciously honoured Him. Jesus always deserves the chief place wherever He is. In all things He must have the pre-eminence. He is King of sufferers as well as King of saints.

How startled they must have been to hear such words from one who was about to be put to death for a supposed crime! The men that drove the nails, the men that lifted up the tree, must have started back in amazement when they heard Jesus talk to God as His Father, and pray for them, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Did ever Roman legionary hear such words before? I should say not. They were so distinctly and diametrically opposed to the whole spirit of Rome. There it was blow for blow, only in the case of Jesus they gave blows where none had been recieved. The crushing cruelty of the Roman must have been startled indeed at such words as these, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

The gambling soldiers little dreamed that they were fulfilling the scriptures while they were raffling for the raiment of the illustrious Sufferer on the cross, yet it was so. In the 22nd psalm, which so fully sets forth our Saviour's suffering while He hung on the tree, David wrote, " they parted My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture."

"And the people stood beholding," gazing, looking on at the cruel spectacle. You and I would not have done that, there is a public sentiment that has trained us to hate the sight of cruelty, especially deadly cruelty to one of our own race, but these people thought that they did no harm when they "stood beholding." They also were thus fulfilling the scriptures, for the 17th verse of the 22nd psalm says, " they look and stare upon me."