Talking To Himself


in this way:



"What a strange kind of man this must be! He claims to be king of

the Jews, and the superscription over His cross says the same. But

what sort of a throne is this! He says He is the Son of God. Why

does not God send down His angels and destroy all these people who

are torturing His Son to death? If He has all power now, as He used

to have when He worked those miracles they talked about, why d
es He

not bring out His vengeance, and sweep all these wretches into

destruction? I would do it in a minute if I had the power. I

wouldn't spare any of them. I would open the earth and swallow them

up! But this man prays to God to forgive them! Strange, strange! He

must be different from us. I am sorry I said one word against Him

when they first hung us up here.



What a difference there is between Him and me! Here we are, hanging

on two crosses, side by side; but all the rest of our lives we have

been far enough apart. I have been robbing and murdering, and He has

been feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and raising the dead. Now

these people are railing at us both! I begin to believe He must be

the Son of God; for surely no man could forgive his enemies like

that."



Yes, that prayer of Christ's did what the scourge could not do. This

man had gone through his trial, he had been beaten, he had been

nailed to the cross; but his heart had not been subdued, he had

raised no cry to God, he was not sorry for his sins. Yet, when he

heard the Savior praying for His murderers, that



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