est that, He having discharged every claim on their
behalf, death has now no right to detain them.

III.

The first sign was in the physical world; the second was in the
underworld of the dead; but the third was in the common world of living
men. This was the acknowledgment of Christ by the centurion who
superintended His crucifixion.

Whether, like the preceding signs, this third one is to be connected
with the earthquake is a question. Probably the answer ought to be in
the affirmative. The sensation produced by an earthquake is like
nothing else in nature; and its first effect on an unsophisticated mind
is to create the sense that God is near. Probably, therefore, the
earthquake was felt by the centurion to be the divine Amen to the
thoughts which had been rising in his mind, and it gave them a speedy
and complete delivery in his confession.

This confession was, however, the result of his observation of Jesus
throughout His whole trial and the subsequent proceedings; and it is an
eloquent tribute to our Lord's behaviour. The centurion may have been
at the side of Jesus from the arrest to the end. Through those
unparalleled hours he had observed the rage and injustice of His
enemies; and he had marked how patient, unretaliating, gentle and
magnanimous He had been. He had heard Him praying for His crucifiers,
comforting the thief on the cross, providing for His mother, communing
with God. More and more his interest was excited and his heart
stirred, till at last he was standing opposite the cross,[9] drinking
in every syllable and devouring every movement; and, when the final
prayer was uttered and the earthquake answered it, his rising
conviction brimmed over and he could not withhold his testimony.

St. Luke makes him say only, "This was a righteous man," while the
others report, "This was the Son of God." But St. Luke's may include
theirs; because, if the centurion meant to state that the claims of
Jesus were just, what were His claims? At Pilate's judgment-seat he
had heard it stated that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, and
perhaps he had heard Him make this claim Himself in reply to Pilate's
question. This name, along with others like it, had been hurled at
Jesus, in his hearing, by those standing round the cross.

But what did he mean when he made this acknowledgment? It has been
held that all which he, a heathen, could imply was that Jesus was a son
of God in the sense in which the Gree