true of every
sinner, in some measure, that he knows not what he does. And to a true
penitent, as he approaches the throne of mercy, it is a great
consolation to be assured that this plea will be allowed. Penitent St.
Paul was comforted with it: "God had mercy on me, because I did it
ignorantly in unbelief." God knows all our weakness and blindness; men
will not make allowance for it or even understand it; but He will
understand it all, if we come to hide our guilty head in His bosom.

Of course this blessed truth may be perverted by an impenitent heart to
its own undoing. There is no falser notion than that expressed in the
French proverb, _Tout comprendre est tout pardonner_ (To understand
everything is to pardon everything), for it means that man is the mere
creature of circumstances and has no real responsibility for his
actions. How far our Lord was from this way of thinking is shown by
the fact that He said, "Forgive them." He knew that they needed
forgiveness; which implies that they were guilty. Indeed, it was His
vivid apprehension of the danger to which their guilt exposed them that
made Him forget His own sufferings and fling Himself between them and
their fate.

It has been asked, Was this prayer answered? were the crucifiers of
Jesus forgiven? To this it may be replied that a prayer for
forgiveness cannot be answered without the co-operation of those prayed
for. Unless they repent and seek pardon for themselves, how can God
forgive them? The prayer of Jesus, therefore, meant that time should
be granted them for repentance, and that they should be plied with
providences and with preaching, to awaken their consciences. To punish
so appalling a crime as the crucifixion of His Son, God might have
caused the earth to open on the spot and swallow the sinners up. But
no judgment of the kind took place. As Jesus had predicted, Jerusalem
perished in indescribable throes of agony; but not till forty years
after His death; and in this interval the pouring out of the Spirit at
Pentecost took place, and the apostles began their preaching of the
kingdom at Jerusalem, urgently calling the nation to repentance. Nor
was their work in vain; for thousands believed. Even before the scene
of the crucifixion terminated, one of the two thieves crucified along
with Jesus, who had taken part in reviling Him, was converted; and the
centurion who superintended the execution confessed Him as the Son of
God. After