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THE

WESLEYAN METHODIST ASSOCIATION

MAGAZINE,

FOR

1855.

The right of private judgment in the reading of the Sacred Volume.

VOLUME THE EIGHTEENTH.

LONDON:

MATTHEW BAXTER, ASSOCIATION BOOK ROOM,
5, HORSE SHOE COURT, LUDGATE HILL.

MDCCCLV.

LONDON :-T. C. JOHNS, PRINTER,

WINE OFFICE COURT, FLEET STREET.

THE

MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1855.

THE CRUCIFIXION.

"And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."-JOHN xii. 33.

THIS passage clearly shows that Jesus Christ was to die by being lifted up from the earth. This is a simple, but graphic description of a scene which shall never cease to excite human emotions, so long as there are hearts to feel and souls to be saved. It carries us at once, interested spectators, to Jerusalem, where Jesus was condemned, and especially to Calvary, where he was by wicked hands crucified and slain. Dear reader, what means that immense crowd rushing out through the gates of the holy city? Ah! you perceive the waving helmets of the Roman soldiers, and the white ephods of the Jewish priests. Amid the motley groups of old and young, rich and poor, I hear the cry of children and the shriek of females. On the face of this Levite, I see the smile of pleasure; but on the face of that fisherman of Galilee, I see the big rolling tear. Surely there is some person coming in the midst of this dense throng who is the object of deep and universal interest. As the multitude rolls hither and thither, like the ebb and flow of the ocean, I can catch an occasional glance of his person. He wears a cloak without a seam. A large piece of wood is laid upon his shoulder. He is the most composed of all the company that come up behind, and when the females weep and lament, he chides their sorrow and stills their tears, and says, "Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and your children." Who is this? It is my Saviour. I know him by the thorny wounds which he bears upon his brow, and the marks of spitting and of buffeting which he has upon his face. "His visage is marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men."

Will you go with him to Calvary? Then you perceive how the guard of Roman soldiers are pressing back the crowd, and leaving an empty space for the executioners to do their duty. They are nailing together the two pieces of wood. They are digging a hole for the upright post. They are stripping Jesus of his garments: his shoulders you perceive are raw, and all trickling with blood. On his back are the furrows long and deep, which the scourgers

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