had they seen a man
apparently die of his own volition, and able to cry in a loud voice at
the moment of dissolution. That barbarous and inhuman mode of execution
induced slow and progressive exhaustion. The actual death of Jesus
appeared to all who were present to be a miracle, as in fact it was.
This marvel, coupled with the earthquake and its attendant horrors, so
impressed the centurion that he prayed to God, and solemnly declared:
"Certainly this was a righteous man." Others joined in fearsome
averment: "Truly this was the Son of God." The terrified ones who spoke
and those who heard left the place in a state of fear, beating their
breasts, and bewailing what seemed to be a state of impending
destruction.[1327] A few loving women, however, watched from a distant
point, and saw all that took place until the Lord's body was laid away.

It was now late in the afternoon; at sunset the Sabbath would begin.
That approaching Sabbath was held to be more than ordinarily sacred for
it was a high day, in that it was the weekly Sabbath and a paschal holy
day.[1328] The Jewish officials, who had not hesitated to slay their
Lord, were horrified at the thought of men left hanging on crosses on
such a day, for thereby the land would be defiled;[1329] so these
scrupulous rulers went to Pilate and begged that Jesus and the two
malefactors be summarily dispatched by the brutal Roman method of
breaking their legs, the shock of which violent treatment had been found
to be promptly fatal to the crucified. The governor gave his consent,
and the soldiers broke the limbs of the two thieves with cudgels. Jesus,
however, was found to be already dead, so they broke not His bones.
Christ, the great Passover sacrifice, of whom all altar victims had been
but suggestive prototypes, died through violence yet without a bone of
His body being broken, as was a prescribed condition of the slain
paschal lambs.[1330] One of the soldiers, to make sure that Jesus was
actually dead, or to surely kill Him if He was yet alive, drove a spear
into His side, making a wound large enough to permit a man's hand to be
thrust thereinto.[1331] The withdrawal of the spear was followed by an
outflow of blood and water,[1332] an occurrence so surprizing that John,
who was an eye-witness, bears specific personal testimony to the fact,
and cites the scriptures thereby fulfilled.[1333]

THE BURIAL.[1334]

A man known as Joseph of Arimathea, who was at heart a disciple