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Rh time, we preserve the reality; to lie under the imputation of heinous crimes, to die the death of a criminal, and leave the world with an indelible stain upon our name and memory, is one of the sorest trials that virtue can meet with upon earth. Yet even this our Lord had to suffer. He had to endure the cross, and submit to the shame. It was foretold by the prophet, that he should be “numbered among transgressors.” And although, he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and seperate from sinners, yet he was impeached of the highest crimes; not only as a violator of the Divine law, in breaking the Sabbath, and frequenting the company of sinners, but also as an imposter, deluding the people; as a Blasphemer, assuming to himself the prerogatives of God; and as a seditious person, perverting the nation, usurping royal authority, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar. “If he had not been a malefactor,” said the Jews to Pilate, “we should not have delivered him up to thee.” The resentment of such a situation our Lord felt strongly, and discovered in that remarkable speech, “Are ye come against me as against a thief, with swords and with staves?” Thus, our Lord was not only he sufferer, but in appearance a criminal, he had not only to endure the pain but the ignomy of the cross; not only to be wounded and tormented, but also to be mocked, reviled, and scorned by the vilest of