4. In a slightly metaphorical sense, "blood" some- times means race or nature, by virtue of relationship or consanguinity: God "hath made of owe blood all nations of men" (Acts xvii, 26). It is also used as the symbol of slaughter and mortality (Isa. xxxiv, 3; Ezek. xiv, 19). It also denotes every kind of prema- ture death (Ezek. xxxii, 6; xxxix, 18). "The bold imagery of the prophet," says Archbishop Newcome, " is founded on the custom of invitations to feasts after sacrifices ; kings, princes, and tyrants being expressed by rams, bulls, and he-goats." Blood is sometimes put for sanguinary purposes, as in Isa. xxxiii, 15, " He that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood," or, more properly, who stoppeth his ears to the proposal of blood- shed. To "wash the feet in blood" (Psa. lviii, 10) is to gain a victory with much slaughter. To "build a town with blood" (Hab. ii, 12) is by causing the death of the oppressed laborers as slaves.
Wine is called the blood of the grape ; " He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes" (Gen. xlix, 11). Here the figure is easily understood, as any thing of a red color may be com- pared to blood. See Wemyss, Symbol. Diet. s. v.
Flesh and Blood are placed in opposition to a su- perior or spiritual nature: " Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven" (Matt, xvi, 17). Flesh and blood are also opposed to the glorified bod}': "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. xv, 50). They are op- posed to evil spirits: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood," against visible enemies composed of flesh and blood, "but against principalities and powers," etc. (Eph. vi, 12). See Eucharist.
Blood and Water (John xix, 34) are said to have issued from our Lord's side when the soldier pierced him on the cross. The only natural explanation that can be offered of the fact is to suppose that some effu-
sion had taken place in the cavity of the chest, and that the spear penetrated below the level of the fluid. Supposing this to have happened, and the wound to have been inflicted shortly after death, then, in addi-
j tion to the water, blood would also have trickled down, or. at any rate, have made its appearance at the mouth of the wound, even though none of the large vessels had been wounded. It is not sufficient to suppose that the pericardium was pierced; and, if effusion had taken place there, it might also have taken place in the cavities of the pleura ; but, during health, neither
: the pericardium nor the pleura contains fluid, being merely lubricated with moisture on their internal or opposing surfaces, so as to allow of free motion to the heart and lungs.
It is more probable, however, from all the symptoms in the case, that the immediate pathological cause of Christ's death was a proper rupture of the heart. The chief of these particulars are the following: (1.) The suddenness of his death, which so surprised Pilate (Mark xv, 44), who was accustomed to see sufferers linger for days upon the cross. See Crucify. (2.) The loud cries just before expiring, which usually ac-
; company the sense of suffocation resulting from the
I congestion of blood at the heart in such cases. (3.) The sanguineous effusion from the pores that occurred in the garden the preceding night during a similar paroxysm of mental and physical tension. (4.) The separation of the serum ("water") from the erassainen- tum (clotted "blood") in this case, which can only be medically accounted for by this supposition, as other-
j wise the blood would have become coagulated in the veins, and no such effusion as above could have occur- red. (See Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, by Wm. Stroud, M.D., London, 1847, p. 399-420.)
The puncture by the soldier's spear was therefore in the lower part of the pericardium itself, on the left side, as would most naturally have resulted from a thrust with the right hand of one standing on the ground and opposite ; this alone, had not Christ been already dead, would necessarily have been a fatal wound.
Treatises on this subject have been written in Latin by Bartholin (Lugd. B. 1648, Lips. 1683 and since), Jacobi (Lips. 166°.), Loescher (Viteb. 1697), Quenstedt (ib. 1678), Saubert (Helmst. 1676), Sagittarius (Jen. 1673), Schertzer (Tusc. Disputt. 8), Suanten (Post. 1686), Triller (Viteb. 1775), Wedel (Jen. 1686), Calon (Viteb. 1679, 1736), Dreschler (Lips. 1678), Eschen- bach (Rost. 1775), Derschow (Jen. 1661), Haferung (Viteb. 1732), Koeher (Dresd. 1698), Meisner (Viteb. 1662), Quenstedt (Viteb. 1663), Wegner (Reg. 1705), Hopfner (Lips. 1621), Loescher (Viteb. 1681), Quen, stedt (Viteb. 1681), Schuster (Chemn. 1741). See Bloody Sweat.
BLOOD-BAPTISM. In the early Church, one de-
\ voted to martyrdom without baptism was reckoned among the catechumens; martyrdom, being regarded as a full substitute, was therefore styled blood-baptism. This notion was derived from several passages of Scripture (Matt, x, 39 ; Luke xii, 50). When baptism
J was reckoned essential to salvation, martyrdom was
I also considered a passport to heaven. It was there- fore made a substitute for baptism. See Bingham, Oiia. Eccles. bk. x, ch. ii, § 20.
BLOOD, ISSUE OF (in Heb. M SIT), is in Scrip- ture applied only to the case of women under menstru- ation or the jluxus uteri (Lev. xv, 19-30 ; Matt, ix, 20, yi<}>>) ai/xoppoovoa ; Mark v, 25, and Luke viii, 43, ovna Iv pvtret u'ipa-oc). The latter caused a permanent legal uncleanness, the former a temporary one, mostly for seven days; after which the woman was to be pu- rified by the customary offering. The "bloody flux" (oucrevTipia') in Acts xxviii, 8, where the patient is of the male sex, is probably a medically correct term (see Bartholini, De Morbis Biblicis, 17). In Matt, ix,