by his hanging long on the cross he would suffer the greater torment, he prayed to the Father and was heard, and as soon as he had called was taken to the Father; or else, as one who had the power of laying down his life, he laid it down when he chose. This prodigy astonished the centurion, who said—'Truly this man was a son of God.'-For it was a miracle that he who would otherwise perhaps have survived two days on the cross, according to the custom of those who are crucified but not stabbed, should have been taken up after three hours, so that his death seems to have happened by the favor of God, and rather through the merit of his own prayer than through the violence of the cross." *-Origen proceeds to observe that the marvellousness of the occurrence was further proved by the surprise of Pilate on hearing that Christ was dead so early, and by his caution in ascertaining the fact from the centurion before he granted the body to Joseph. In commenting on Matt., chap. 27, v. 50, Jerome similarly remarks,-"In the first place, it must be declared that for Jesus to lay down his life when he chose, and to take it again, was an act of divine power. Then the centurion hearing him say to the Father, Into thy hands I commit my spirit,'-and perceiving that he immediately dismissed his spirit of his own accord, was struck with the greatness of the miracle, and said,-"Truly this man was a son of God."-Cyprian follows in the same track.-"That the Jewish rulers would deliver Christ to Pontius Pilate to be crucified, he had himself predicted, and the testimony of all the prophets had also previously declared that it was necessary for him to suffer, not that he might feel, but conquer death, and after

* Tertullianus, Apologeticus, p. 20;-Origines, Opera, vol. ii. p. 237. By misunderstanding the statement concerning-" the sixth hour,”-in John, chap. 19, v. 14, Origen seems to have concluded that the time during which Christ hung alive on the cross was only three hours.

he had suffered to return to heaven, that he might display the power of the divine majesty. The course of events corresponded to expectation; for when he was crucified he dismissed his spirit of his own accord, preventing the office of the executioner, and also of his own accord rose from the dead on the third day."*-Theophylact, metropolitan of Bulgaria, who stands as it were midway between the ancients and the moderns, exhibits similar views in expounding Luke, chap. 23, v. 46.—“ When [Jesus] had exclaimed with a loud voice he expired, for he had power to lay down his life, and to take it again. That exclamation, and other miracles, furnished to the centurion grounds of faith: for [Christ] did not die like an ordinary man, but with great power, and called death a deposit, like one who was about to take his life again.' -So likewise in commenting on Matt. chap. 27, v. 50.— "He lays down his life by his own power. But what was the exclamation ?-Father! into thy hands I commit my spirit:'-for he expired not by compulsion, but voluntarily, this being the signification of,-'I commit my spirit,' etc., and therefore with a loud voice he called on death, which dared not to come to him without being called." †

Among the more modern commentators the earlier generally adopt the miraculous hypothesis of their predecessors, but the superior judgment of a few is evinced by their expressing themselves with becoming reserve on a subject which they felt they did not perfectly understand, and some are absolutely silent. Thus Calvin remarks,— "The circumstance that after breaking the legs of the two malefactors the soldiers found Christ dead, and therefore did not assail his body, shows an extraordinary operation

* Hieronymus, Opera, vol. iii. pp. 47, 48;-Cyprianus, Opera :-De idolorum vanitate, p. 228.

Theophylact, Opera; Comment on Matt., chap. 27, v. 50; Mark, chap. 15, v. 37; Luke, chap. 23, v. 46; and John, chap. 19, v. 30.

of divine providence. Profane persons may indeed say that it is natural for one man to die sooner than another; but whoever carefully examines the whole series of the narrative will be compelled to ascribe the exemption of Christ from the breaking of his legs, by a death beyond all expectation rapid, to the secret counsel of God." *-In commenting on Matt., chap. 27, v. 50.-" Jesus, having again cried with a loud voice, resigned [his] spirit,”". Grotius subjoins,-" in the very act of exclamation, as we have found Tertullian saying,-'He spontaneously dismissed his spirit with a word.'-This exclamation was,— [All] is accomplished,'-as mentioned by John, and— 'Father! into thy hands I commit my spirit.'-This very circumstance,—'that he expired with such a cry,'-was regarded by the centurion as miraculous; for the event itself, immediately responding to the words of Christ, showed that his soul had really been taken by God. His death was in fact accelerated by divine counsel before the failure of his natural strength, otherwise it could not have been expected to occur so soon (Mark, chap. 15, v. 44.); and therefore the malefactors were dispatched by breaking their legs."-In his discourse on the fourth article of the Apostles' creed, Lightfoot observes,"Christ could not die, nay I may say he would not die, till all things were fulfilled that were written concerning his death. Therefore, when he had hung above three hours, and knowing it was written,-"They gave me vinegar,' etc.,-he said, 'I thirst.'-He tastes and finds it vinegar, and says, 'It is finished.'-Now, all is accomplished, so he bows his head, and composeth himself to die, and cries, Father! into thy hands,' etc.;—and having

* Joannes Calvinus, Comment: in quatuor Evangelistas ;-John, chap. 19, v. 33.

Hugo Grotius, Opera, Theologica, etc.; Comment on Matt., chap. 27, v. 50.

so said he let hands of God.

go his soul, and delivered it up into the Remember that, John, chap. 10, v. 17, 18, and you see the sense of these expressions;-I lay down my life that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.'—He had life in his own hand, and the Jews could not take it from him, but he let it go himself, and delivered it up.-' When the centurion saw that he thus cried out and gave up the ghost, he said, Surely this man was the Son of God.'Doubtless this man hath the disposal of his own life. So strong a cry is not the cry of one that is spent and dying through weakness and fainting, but it argues life strong and vigorous to be still in him, and therefore he dies not of weakness, but gives up his life at his own pleasure."— "Jesus"-says the celebrated Bishop Taylor,-" took all his passion with a voluntary susception, God heightening it to great degrees of torment supernaturally, and he laid down his life voluntarily, when his Father's wrath was totally appeased toward mankind." *-Matthew Henry makes the following observations on Matt., chap. 27, v. 50. -"Two things are here noted concerning the manner of Christ's dying; 1st, that he cried with a loud voice, as before, v. 46. Now this was a sign that after all his pains and fatigues his life was whole in him, and nature strong. The voice of dying men is one of the first things that fails. With a panting breath and a faltering tongue a few broken words are hardly spoken, and more hardly heard; but Christ just before he expired spoke like a man in his full strength, to show that his life was not forced from him, but was freely delivered by him into his Father's hands, as his own act and deed. He that had strength to cry thus when he died could have got loose from the ar

* Dr. Lightfoot, Works, vol. i. p. 1354;—Bishop Jeremy Taylor, Works, vol. iii. p. 374.

rest he was under, and have bid defiance to the power of death; but, to show that by the eternal Spirit he offered himself, being the priest as well as the sacrifice, he cried with a loud voice."-In his annotations on John, chap. 19, v. 30, the same author remarks,-"He gave up the ghost.' -His life was not forcibly extorted from him, but freely resigned; "—and on v. 33.-"They supposed him to be dead, and therefore did not break his legs.'-Observe here that Jesus died in less time than persons crucified usually did. The structure of his body, perhaps being extraordinarily fine and tender, was the sooner broke by pain; or rather, it was to show that he laid down his life of himself, and could die when he pleased, though his hands were nailed. Though he yielded to death, he was not conquered."*-Christ's-"being able to express himself in such a manner," says Dr. Gill,-" declared him to be more than a mere man; for after such agonies in the garden, and so much fatigue in being hurried from place to place, and such loss of blood from being buffeted, scourged, crowned with thorns, and nailed to the accursed tree, where being stretched he had hung for some hours, to speak with so loud a voice was more than human, and was a conviction to the centurion that he was a divine person; for when he saw that he so cried out and gave up the ghost, he said,-Truly this man was the Son of God;'(Mark, chap. 15, v. 39), and likewise it shows that he died freely and voluntarily, and not through force and necessity. It was not all that men had done, or could do to him that could have forced his life from him. He died willingly, and when nature was in its full strength, and, which is signified in the next phrase,-'yielded up the ghost,'or-'dismissed the spirit,'-as the Syriac version truly renders it,—he sent it away. It was not taken from him,

* Matthew Henry, Exposition on the New Testament; Comment on Matt., chap. 27, v. 50 John. chap. 19, v. 30, 33.