ere is Christ Jesus, the King of
the Church, whose subject James VI. is, and of whose kingdom he is not
a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a member." The entire history of
the Scottish Church has been one long struggle to maintain this truth;
but the struggle has frequently been carried on in the face of
opposition almost as scornful as that which assailed Jesus in Pilate's
palace. Most vital of all is the acknowledgment of Christ's kingship
in the realm of the individual life; but it is here that His will is
most resisted. In words we acknowledge allegiance to Him; but in which
of us has the victory over the flesh been so complete that His full
claim has been conceded, to have the arrangement of our business and
our leisure and to dictate what is to be done with our time, our means
and our services?

A third lesson is to recognise that in what Jesus bore on this occasion
He was suffering for us.

Of all the features of the scene the one that has most impressed the
imagination of Christendom is the crown of thorns. It was something
unusual, and brought out the ingenuity and wantonness of cruelty.
Besides, as the wound of a thorn has been felt by everyone, it brings
the pain of the Sufferer nearer to us than any other incident. But it
is chiefly by its symbolism that it has laid hold of the Christian
mind. When Adam and Eve were driven from the garden into the bleak and
toilsome world, their doom was that the ground should bring forth to
them thorns and thistles. Thorns were the sign of the curse; that is,
of their banishment from God's presence and of all the sad and painful
consequences following therefrom. And does not the thorn, staring from
the naked bough of winter in threatening ugliness, lurking beneath the
leaves or flowers of summer to wound the approaching hand, tearing the
clothes or the flesh of the traveller who tries to make his way through
the thicket, burning in the flesh where it has sunk, fitly stand for
that side of life which we associate with sin--the side of care, fret,
pain, disappointment, disease and death? In a word, it symbolises the
curse. But it was the mission of Christ to bear the curse; and, as He
lifted it on His own head, He took it off the world. He bore our sins
and carried our sorrows.

Why is it that, when we think of the crown of thorns now, it is not
only with horror and pity, but with an exultation which cannot be
repressed? Because, cruel as was the soldiers' jes