Such was the death Christ endured for us. Surely no one can think of all Jesus suffered at this time, without feeling the deepest grief, and shrinking with horror from the idea that we could have joined His enemies. And yet the Word of God tells us that, if we persist in sin, we "crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." We can all understand, that if we have taken a great deal of trouble, and put ourselves to inconvenience and even to pain, in order to do good to some person, it would be very grievous to see that person not a bit better or happier than he would have been, had we _not troubled_ ourselves about him. Then let us remember that Jesus Christ suffered and died that we might be taken into heaven. But we cannot go into heaven, unless we forsake our sins and try to obey God: if, therefore, we will not take the trouble to resist the Devil, all that Jesus has done and suffered will be of no use to us. Let us take care that He has not suffered in vain: let us pray for faith; that true and lively faith which will constrain us to repent, and love, and obey. Now let us turn our thoughts again to Jesus hanging on His cross, between those upon which the two thieves were fastened. It was the custom of the Romans, to cause a list of the crimes for which a malefactor was condemned, to be carried before him, or fastened to the instrument of his punishment. This was called his "accusation." In compliance with this custom, "Pilate wrote a title, and set up over his head his accusation written, and put it on the cross. And the writing was in letters of Greek, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS; and in Latin, THE KING OF THE JEWS; and in Hebrew, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin"; so that all strangers who did not understand Hebrew might also read this "accusation." Chapter XLII.--CHRIST ON THE CROSS. The Chief Priests were by no means satisfied with the superscription written by Pilate, for they persisted in believing that Jesus had no _right_ to be called King or Messiah. "Then said the Chief Priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, the King of the Jews; but that he said, I am king of the Jews": an alteration which would have made it appear that He had been justly punished by the Romans, for claiming a power to which no one had any right in the Roman provinces.