He
injured no one, and endeavored to do good to all. And yet he was
persecuted, and insulted, and abused. Again and again he was
compelled to flee for his life. They took up stones to stone him.
They hired false witnesses to accuse him. At last they took him by
night, as he was in a garden praying. A cruel multitude came and took
him by force, and carried him into a large hall. They then surrounded
our blessed Savior, and heaped upon him all manner of insult and
abuse. They mocked him. They collected some thorns, and made a crown,
which they forced upon his head, pressing the sharp thorns into his
flesh, till the blood flowed down upon his hair and his cheeks. And
after thus passing the whole night, he was led out to the hill of
Calvary, tottering beneath the heavy burden of the cross, which he
was compelled to bear upon his own shoulders, and to which he was to
be nailed. When they arrived at the place of crucifixion, they drove
the nails through his hands and his feet. The cross was then fixed in
the ground, and the Savior, thus cruelly suspended, was exposed to
the loud and contemptuous shouts of an insulting mob. The morning air
was filled with their loud execrations. A soldier came and thrust a
spear deep into his side. To quench his burning thirst, they gave him
vinegar, mixed with gall. Thus did our Savior die. He endured all
this, from the cradle to the grave, that he might save sinners.
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