that they had all been fulfilled save one; and,
that this Scripture might be fulfilled, He said, "I thirst." Some, who
stood near the cross, and, in the growing light, began to regain their
confidence, tried to make ridicule of this plaintive ejaculation; but
one who noticed His pale and parched lips was touched with pity, and
took a stalk of hyssop, which was just long enough to reach the mouth
of the Sufferer, and elevating a sponge dipped in vinegar, fulfilled
thus unwittingly the ancient prediction, "They gave Me also gall for My
meat, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink."

VI. "_It is finished._"--As we compare the Gospels, we find that these
words were spoken with a loud voice. It was, in fact, the shout of a
conqueror. Finished the long list of prophecies, which closed, like
gates, behind Him. Finished the types and shadows of the Jewish
ritual. Finished the work which the Father had given Him to do.
Finished the matchless beauty of a perfect life. Finished the work of
man's redemption. Through the eternal Spirit, He had offered Himself
without spot to God; and by that one sacrifice for sin, once for all
and forever. He had perfected them that are being sanctified. He had
done all that was required to reconcile the world unto God, and to make
an end of sin.

Finished! Let the words roll in volumes of melody through all the
spheres! There is nothing now left for man to do but enter on the
results of Christ's finished work. As the Creator finished on the
evening of the sixth day all the work which He had made, so did the
Redeemer cease on the sixth day from the work of Atonement, and, lo! it
was very good.

VII. "_Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit._"--The words were
quoted from the Book of Psalms, which He so dearly loved. He only
prefixed the name of Father; for the cloud which had extorted the cry,
_My God, My God_, had broken, and under a blue heaven of conscious
fellowship He exchanged it for _Father_.

If the words, "It is finished," be taken as our Lord's farewell to the
world He was leaving, these words are surely His greeting to that on
whose confines He was standing. It seems as though the spirit of
Christ were poising itself before it departed to the Father, and it saw
before no dismal abyss, no gulf of darkness, no footless chaos, but
hands, even the hands of the Father, and to these He committed Himself.

The first martyr, who died after Christ, passed away with wo