with thorns, and they smote him on the head. Osorius, writing of the sufferings of Christ, saith, ' That the crown of thorns bored his head with seventy-two wounds.' To see that head, before which angels cast down themselves and worshipped, as I may say, crowned with thorns, might well amaze us ; to see those eyes, that were purer than the sun, put out by the darkness of death ; to see those ears which hear nothing to speak to capacity, but halleluiahs of saints and angels, to hear the blasphemies of the multitude ; to see that face which was fairer than the sons of men, — for being born and conceived without sin, he was freed from the contagious effects of it, deformity, and was most perfectly beautiful, Ps. xlv. 2 ; Cant. v. 10 — to be spit on by those beastly, wretched Jews ; to see that mouth and tongue, that ' spake as never man spake,' accused for false doctrines, nay blas- phemy ; to see those hands, which freely swayed the sceptre of heaven, nailed to the cross ; to see those feet, ' like unto fine brass,' Kev. i. .15, nailed to the cross for man's sins ; who can behold Christ thus suffer- ing in all the members of his body, and not be struck with astonish- ment ? Who can sum up the horrible abuses that were put upon Christ by his base attendants ? The evangelist tells us that they spit in his face and buffeted him, and that others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, ' Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee ? ' Mat. xxvi. 67, 68 ; and, as Luke adds, ' many other things blasphemously spake they against him,' Luke xxii. 65. What those many other things were is not discovered ; only some ancient writers say, ' That Christ in that night suffered so many and such hideous things, that the whole knowledge of them is reserved only for the last day of judgment,' Mallonius i writes thus, ' After Caiaphas and the priests had sentenced Christ worthy of death, they committed him to their ministers, warily to keep till day, and they immediately threw him into the dungeon in Caiaphas' s house ; there they bound him to a stony pillar, Avith his hands bound on his back, and then they fell upon him with their palms and fists.' Others add that the soldiers, not yet content, they threw him into a filthy, dirty puddle, where he abode for the remainder of that night ; of which the psalmist seems to speak, ' Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, and in the deeps, and I sink in the deep mire, where there is no standing,' Ps. Ixxxviii. 6, and Ixix. 2. But that you may clearly see what horrible abuses were put upon Christ by his attendants, consider seriously of these particulars : —
[1.] First, ' They spit in his face,' Mat. xxvi. 67. Now, this was accounted among the Jews a matter of great infamy and reproach : Num. xii. 14, ' And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?' Spitting in the face among the Jews was a sign of anger, shame, and contempt : Job XXX. 10, ' They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.' The face is the table of beauty or comeliness, and when it is spit upon, it is made the seat of shame. Spitting in the face was a sign of the greatest disgrace that could be put upon a person ; and therefore it could not but be very bitter to Job to see base beggars spit in that face that was wont to be honoured by princes. But this we are not ' Query, Maldonatus ?— G.
84 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY.
to wonder at, for there is no indignity so base and ignominious but the choicest saints may meet with it in and from this evil world. Afflicted persons are sacred things, and by the laws of nature and nations should not be misused and trampled upon, but rather pitied and lamented over ; but barbarous miscreants, when they have an opportunity, they will not spare to exercise any kind of cruelty, as^ you see by their spit- ting in the very face of Christ himself : ' I hid not my face,' saith Christ, 'from shame and spitting,' Isa. 1. 6, 2. Though ' I was fairer than the children of men,' Ps. xlv. 2, yet I used no mask to keep me fair ; though ' I was white and ruddy/ ' the chiefest among ten thou- sand,' Cant. V. 10, yet I preserved not my beauty from their nasty spittle. Oh, that that sweet and blessed face of Jesus Christ, that is so much honoured and adored in heaven, should ever be spit upon by beastly wretches in this world !
[2.] Secondly, 'They struck him:' John xviii. 22, 'One of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so ? ' Because our Saviour gave not the high priest his usual titles, but dealt freely with him, this impious apparitor, or sergeant, to curry favour with his master, strikes him with his hand, with his rod, say some, with his stick, say others : like master like man. Oh, that that holy face which was designed to be the object of heaven, in the beholding of which much of the celestial glory doth consist — that that face which the angels stare upon with wonder, like infants at a bright sunbeam — should ever be smitten by a base varlet in the presence of a judge ! Among all the sufferings of Christ, one would think that there was no great matter in this, that a vain officer did strike him with the palm of his hand ; and yet if the Scrip- tures are consulted, you will find that the Holy Grhost lays a great stress upon it. Thus Jeremiah : ' He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him ; he is filled full with reproach,' Lam. iii. 30. Christ did patiently and willingly take the stripes that vain men did in- juriously lay upon him ; he sustained all kinds of vexations from the hands of all kinds of ungodly ones. Thus Micah, speaking of Christ, saith, ' They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek,' Micah v. 1. Hugo, by this Judge of Israel, understandeth our Lord Jesus Christ, who was indeed at his passion contumeliously ' buffeted and smitten with rods upon the cheek,' Mat. xxvi. 67. By smiting the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek, they express their scorn and contempt of Christ. Smiting upon the face the apostle makes a sign of great reproach : 2 Cor. xi. 20, ' If a man smite you on the face.' ' There is nothing more disgraceful,' saith Chrysostom, 'than to be smitten on the cheek. 'i And the diverse reading of the original word does fully evidence it : 'He struck him with a rod,' or ' he struck him with the palm of his hand,' iScoKe paTria/xa. Now, the word paTTiafia, say some, refers to his being struck with a rod, or club, or shoe, or plantofle ; 2 others say it refers to his being struck with the palm of men's hands. Now, of the two, it is generally judged more disgraceful to be struck with the palm of the hand than to be struck with either a rod or a shoe ; and therefore we read the text
1 Homil. 82 in John c. 18.
' ' Plant,' = foot : plantofle = covering of foot, or a slipper.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY. 85