a _skull_. There the procession stayed, and what transpired
may be best followed as we touch on the seven sentences our Lord
uttered on the Cross, as we collate them and set them in order from the
four Gospels.

I. "_Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do._"--Arrived
at the place of execution, Jesus would be stripped once more, a linen
cloth at most being left about His loins. He would then be laid upon
the cross, as it rested on the ground, His arms stretched along the
crossbeams, His body resting on a projecting piece of rough wood,
misnamed a seat. Huge nails would then be driven through the tender
palm of each hand, and the shrinking centre of each foot. The cross
would then be lifted up and planted in a hole previously dug to receive
it, with a rude shock causing indescribable anguish. "So they
crucified Him, and two others with Him, on either side one, and Jesus
in the midst."

Pilate had written a title to be nailed to the head-piece of the cross,
according to the usual custom, with the name and designation of the
crucified, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." It was written in
Greek, the language of science; Latin, the language of government; and
Hebrew, the language of religion. It is this fact that accounts for
the differences in the Gospels. One evangelist translates from one
language, another from another. The inscription was meant to insult
the Jews. It was equivalent to saying, "This nation cannot produce a
better monarch than this; and this is the fate which will be meted out
to all such pretenders." The authorities were indignant, and did their
utmost to induce Pilate to alter it. But in vain. He would be master
this time, and dismissed them with the curt reply, "What I have written
I have written." Each man is writing his conception of the nature and
claims of Christ by the way in which he treats Him, either
acknowledging His Divine glory as he enthrones Him, or repudiating His
claims as he tramples Him under foot, and turns away to his sin.

The criminal's clothes fell as a perquisite to the soldiers specially
charged with the execution of the sentence. With our Lord's outer
clothes they had no difficulty; they were too poor to be worth keeping
entire, so they tore them up into equal pieces. But the inner tunic
was of unusual texture; perhaps it had been woven for Him by His
mother's hands, or by one of the women who so carefully administered to
Him. In any case it