o acknowledge God as their Father to lay their
sorrows with filial confidence at his feet. It was towards three o'clock
when he cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabacthani?' 'My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' These words of our Lord interrupted
the dead silence which had continued so long; the Pharisees turned
towards him, and one of them said, 'Behold, he calleth Elias;' and another,
'Let us see whether Elias will come to deliver him.' When Mary heard the
voice of her divine Son, she was unable to restrain herself any longer,
but rushed forwards, and returned to the foot of the Cross, followed by
John, Mary the daughter of Cleophas, Mary Magdalen, and Salome. A troop
of about thirty horsemen from Judea and the environs of Joppa, who were
on their way to Jerusalem for the festival, passed by just at the time
when all was silent round the Cross, both assistants and spectators
being transfixed with terror and apprehensions. When they beheld Jesus
hanging on the Cross, saw the cruelty with which he had been treated,
and remarked the extraordinary signs of God's wrath which overspread the
face of nature, they were filled with horror, and exclaimed, 'If the
Temple of God were not in Jerusalem, the city should be burned to the
ground for having taken upon itself so fearful a crime.' These words from
the lips of strangers--strangers too who bore the appearance of persons of
rank--made a great impression on the bystanders, and loud murmurs and
exclamations of grief were heard on all sides; some individuals
gathered together in groups, more freely to indulge their sorrow,
although a certain portion of the crowd continued to blaspheme and
revile all around them. The Pharisees were compelled to assume a more
humble tone, for they feared great existing excitement among the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. They therefore held a consultation with
Abenadar, the centurion, and agreed with him that the gate of the city,
which was in the vicinity, should be closed, in order to prevent
farther communication, and that they should send to Pilate and Herod
for 500 men to guard against the chance of an insurrection, the
centurion, in the mean time, doing all in his power to maintain order,
and preventing the Pharisees from insulting Jesus, lest it should
exasperate the people still more.

Shortly after three o'clock the light reappeared in a degree, the moon
began to pass away from the disc of the sun, while the sun again shone