About four in the afternoon he was pierced with a spear, and there issued out of his side both blood and water : ' and one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there-out blood and ^ Suidas in vita Dion. i Emisit, non amisit.— Ambrose.
OP THE SUFFERINGS OP CHEIST IN HIS BODY. 89
water,' John xix. 34. Out of the side of Christ, being now dead, there issues water and blood, signifying that he is both our justification and sanctification.
Thus was fulfilled that which was long before foretold : ' They shall look upon me whom they have pierced,' Zech. xii. 10 ; thus ' came Jesus by water and by blood,' 1 John v. 6 ; thus was there * a foun- tain opened to the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,' even to all the elect, ' for sin and for uncleanness,' Zech. xiii. 1. The soldier's malice lived when Christ was dead. The water and blood forthwith issuing out as soon as it was pierced with a spear, did evi- dently show that he was truly dead. The Syriac paraphrase saith he pierced his rib, that is, the fifth rib, where the pericardium lay. It is very likely that the very pericardium was pierced. Now the peri- cardium is a film or skin, like unto a purse, wherein is contained clear water to cool the heat of the heart, i The blood, saith one,^ signifies the perfect expiation of the sins of the Church, and the water, the daily washing and purging of it from the remainder of her corruption. ' Water and blood issued out of Christ's side,' saith another, ' to teach us that Christ justifieth none by his merit, but such whom he sanctifieth by his Spirit.' Christ was pierced with a spear, and water and blood presently issued out of his side, that his enemies might not object that he rose again because he was but half dead on the cross, and being so taken down he revived. To testify the con- trary truth, John so seriously afl&rmeth the certainty of his death, he being an eye-witness of the streaming out of Christ's blood as he stood by Christ's cross. 0 gates of heaven ! 0 windows of paradise ! 0 palace of refuge ! 0 tower of strength ! 0 sanctuary of the just ! O flourishing bed of the spouse of Solomon ! Methinks I see water and blood running out of his side more freshly than these golden streams which ran out of the garden of Eden and watered the whole world. But here I may not dwell, &c.
But to shut up this particular, about five, which the Jews call the eleventh and the last hour of the day, Christ was taken down and buried by Joseph and Nicodemus. But,
3. Thirdly, As the death of Christ on the cross was a lingering death, so the death of Christ was a painful death. This appears several ways.
[1.] First, His legs and hands were violently racked and pulled out to the places fitted for his fastenings, and then pierced through with nails. His hands and feet were nailed, which parts being full of sinews, and therefore very tender, his pains could not but be very acute and sharp.
[2.] Secondly, By this means he wanted the use both of his hands and feet, and so he was forced to hang immovable upon the cross, as being unable to turn any way for his ease, and therefore he could not but be under very dolorous pains.
[3.] Thirdly, The longer he lived, the more he endured ; for by the weight of his body his wounds were opened and enlarged, his nerves and veins were rent and torn asunder, and his blood gushed out more
^ The whole subject is conclusively discussed by Dr Stroud in his ' Physical Cause of Christ's Death,' 1 vol. 8vo. 1847. And cf. the interesting correspondence of eminent medical men in Appendix to Dr Hanna's ' Last Day of our Lord's Passion.' 18G2. — G.
90 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY.
and more abundantly still. Now the envenomed arrows of God's wrath shot to his heart. This was the direful catastrophe, and caused that vociferation and outcry upon the cross, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' The justice of God was now inflamed and heightened to its full aKf^rj : Eom. viii. 32, ' God spared not his Son ; ' God would not abate one farthing of the debt. But,
[4.] Fourtlily, He died by piece-meals, he died by little and little, he died not all at once. He that died on the cross was long a-dying. Christ was kept a great while upon the rack ; it was full three hours betwixt his affixion and expiration ; and certainly it would have been longer if he had not freely and willingly given up the ghost. I have read that Andrew the apostle was two whole days on the cross before he died ; and so long might Christ have been a-dying, if God had not supernaturally heightened the degrees of his torment. Doubtless when Christ was on the cross he felt the very pains of hell, though not locally, yet equivalently. But,
4. Fourthly, As the death of Christ on the cross was a painful death, so the death of Christ on the cross was a shameful death. Christ was in medio positus, he hung between two thieves, as if he had been the principal malefactor, Mark xxvii. 38. Here they placed him to make the world believe that he was the great ringleader of such men. Christ was crucified in the midst as the chief of sinners that we might have place in the midst of heavenly angels ; the one of these thieves went railing to hell, the other went repenting forth right to heaven, living long in a little time, Zech. iii. 7.
If you ask me the names of these two thieves who were crucified with Christ, I must answer, that although the Scripture nominates them not, yet some writers give them these names, Dismas and Gesmas ; Dismas the happy, and Gesmas the miserable thief, accord- ing to the poet —
Gesmas damnatur, Dismas ad astra levatur :
When Gesmas died, to Dives he was sent ; When Dismas died, to Abraham up he went.^
Well might the lamp of heaven withdraw its light and mask itself with darkness, as blushing to behold the Sun of righteousness hanging between two thieves ! He shall be an Apollo to me that can tell me which was the greater, the blood of the cross, or the shame of the cross, Heb. xii. 2. It was a mighty shame that Saul's sons were hanged on a tree, 2 Sam. xxi. 6. Oh, what a shameful death was it for Christ to hang on a tree between two notorious thieves ! But,
5. Fifthly and lastly. As the death of Christ was a shameful death, so the death of Christ was a cursed death ; ' Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree,' Deut. xxi. 23. The death on the tree was accursed above all kinds of death ; ' as the serpent was accursed above all beasts of the field,' Gen. iii. 14, both for the first transgres- sion, whereof the serpent was the instrument, the tree the occasion. Since the death of any malefactor might be a monument of God's curse for sin, it may be questioned, why this brand is peculiarly set
^ Rather Dcmas, and Gestas, not Gesmas. Evangel. Nicod. i. 10: Narrat. Joseph, 0. 3.-0.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL. 91