thus, ' He struck Jesus with the palm of his hand," that is, with open hand, or with his hand stretched out.
Some of the ancients, commenting on this cufF, say, Let the heavens be afraid, and let the earth tremble, at Christ's patience and his ser- vant's impudence ! 0 ye angels ! how were ye silent ? how could you contain your hands when you saw his hand striking at God ? i ' If we consider him,' saith another,^ ' who took the blow, was not he that struck him worthy to be consumed of fire, or to be swallowed up of earth, or to be given up to Satan, and thrown down into hell.' Bernard saith, ' That his hand that struck Christ was armed with an iron glove.' 3 And Vincentius affirms, * That by the blow Christ was felled to the earth.'* And Ludovicus adds, * That blood gushed out of his mouth ; and that the impression of the varlet's fingers remained on Christ's cheek with a tumour and wan colour.' 5 If a subject should but lift up his hand against a sovereign, would he not be severely punished ? But should he strike hira, would it not be present death? Oh, what desperate madness and wickedness was it then to strike the King of kings and Lord of lords, whom not only men, but the cheru- bims and seraphims, and all the celestial powers above, adore and worship ? Rev. xvii. 16 ; Heb. i. 6. Those monsters in that Mat. xxvi. 67 did not only strike Christ with the palm of their hands, but they bufieted him also. Now, some of the learned observe this difference betwixt pdiriafia and Ko\a(f)09 ; the one is given with the open hand, the other with the fist shut up ; and thus they used him at this time. They struck him with their fists, and so the stroke was greater and more offensive ; for by this means they made his face to swell, and to become full of bunches all over. One gives it in thus : By these blows of their fists his whole head was swollen, his face became black and blue, and his teeth ready to fall out of his jaws. Very pro- bable it is that, with the violence of their strokes, they made him reel and stagger, they made his mouth, and nose, and face to bleed, and his eyes to startle in his head.
Now, concerning Christ's sufferings on the cross, I shall only hint -a few things, and so close up this particular concerning Christ's cor- poreal sufferings. Take me thus,
1. First, The death of Christ on the cross, it was a bitter death, a sorrowful death, a bloody death. The bitter thoughts of his suffer- ings put him into a most dreadful agony : Luke xxii. 44, * Being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as great drops of blood falling to the ground.' The Greek word that is here used, 'Aycovia, signifies a striving or wrestling against, as two combatants or wrestlers do strive each against other. The things which our Saviour strove against was not only the terror of death, as other men are wont to do — for then many Christians and martyrs might have seemed more constant and courageous than he — but with the terrible justice of God, pouring out his high anger and indignation upon him on the account of all the sins of his chosen that were laid upon him, than which nothing could be more dreadful, Isa, liii. 4-6. Christ was
^ Chrysostom, Horn. 81 in John c. 18. ' Augustine in Trail. 13.
^ Bernard, Ser. de Pas. Vine. Serm. de Pas.
* Comment, in Ep. ad Ebrceos. 1634, folio. — G. ' Ludov. de Vila Christi.
86 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY.
in a vehement conflict in his soul, through the deepest sense of his Father's wrath against sinners, for whom he now stood as a surety and Kedeemer, 2 Cor. v. 21. And for a close of this particular, let me say that God's justice which we have provoked, being fully satis- fied by the inestimable merit of Christ's passion, is the surest and highest ground of consolation that we have in this world ; but for the more full opening i of this blessed scripture, let us take notice of these following particulars : —
(1.) First, ' Eis siveat ivas as it ivere blood.' Some of the ancients look upon these words only as a similitude or figurative hyperbole, it being a usual kind of speech to call a vehement sweat a bloody sweat, as he that weeps bitterly is said to weep tears of blood ; but the most and best of the ancients understand the words in ^ literal sense, and believe it was truly and properly a bloody sweat, and with them I close. But some will object, and say it was sicut guttce sanguinis, as it were drops of blood. Now to this I answer, first-, if the Holy Ghost had only intended that sicut for a similitude or hyperbole, he would rather have expressed it as it were drops of water,2 than ' as it were drops of blood ; ' for we all know that sweat is more like to water than to blood. But, secondly, I answer that sicut, as in Scripture phrase, doth not always denote a similitude, but sometimes the very thing itself, according to the verity of it. Take an instance or two instead of many : ' We beheld his glory, as the glory of the only be- gotten of the Father;' and ' their words seemed to them as it were idle tales, and they beheved them not;' the words in the original, ft)9, (Mo-efc, are the same. Certainly Christ's sweat in the garden was a wonderful sweat, not a sweat of water, but of red gore-blood. But,
(2.) Secondly, He sweat great drops of blood, clotty blood, issuing through flesh and skin in great abundance, Opofi/Soi aLfiaTo<;, clotted or congealed blood. There is a thin faint sweat, and there is a thick clotted sweat. In this sweat of Christ blood came not from him in small dews, but in great drops, they were drops, and great drops of blood, crassyS and thick drops. Some read it droppings down of blood ; that is, blood distilling in greater and grosser drops ; and hence it is concluded as preternatural ; for though much may be said for sweating blood in a course of nature, according to what Aristotle affirms, and Austin saitli that he knew a man that could sweat blood, even when he pleased ; and it is granted on all hands that in faint bodies a subtle thin blood like sweat may pass through the pores of the skin ; but that through the same pores crassy, thick, and great drops of blood should issue out, — it was not, it could not be without a miracle.4 Certainly the drops of blood that fell from Christ's body were great, very great ; yea, so great as if they had started thi'ough his skin to outrun the streams and rivers of his cross. But,
(3.) Thirdly, These great drops of blood did not only distillare,^ drop out, but decurrere, run down like a stream, so fast, as if they had issued out of most deadly wounds. They were ' great drops of blood falling down to the ground' ! Here is magnitude and multitude ; great drops,
1 Misprinted ' opinion.'— G. * Misprinted ' nature.'— G. ' ' Thick,' ' fat.'— G.
* Aritit. lib. iii., do Hist. Animal, c. 29 ; August, lib. 14, de Civit. Dei., c. 24. ' Misprinted ' dillare.' — G.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY. 87