In this chapter we have been moving somewhat in the region of speculation and conjecture, and we have not rigidly ascertained what is logically tenable and what is not. This is a place of mystery, where dim yet imposing meanings peep out on us in whatever direction we turn. We have called the scene the Dead Christ. But who does not see that the dead Christ is so interesting and wonderful because He is also the living Christ? He lives; He is here; He is with us now. Yet the converse is also true--that the living Christ is to us so wonderful and adorable because He was dead. The fact that He is alive inspires us with strength and hope; but it is by the memory of His death that He is commended to the trust of our burdened consciences and the love of our sympathetic hearts.
[1] Deut. xxi. 22, 23.
[2] "_Crurifragium_, as it was called, consisted in striking the legs of the sufferer with a heavy mallet"--FARRAR, _Life of Christ_, ii., 423.
[3] The words that follow in this paragraph are a reminiscence of a singularly eloquent and powerful passage in a speech of Dr. Maclaren, of Manchester, delivered last year in Edinburgh.
[4] Weiss, however, supposes Psalm xxxiv. 20 to be the reference.
[5] On the symbolism of this phenomenon see the excursus in Westcott's _Gospel of St. John_, pp. 284-86.
[6] _E.g._, Lange, characteristically.
[7] Stroud in his treatise _On the Physical Cause of the Death of Christ_.
[8] Given in Hanna's _The Last Day of our Lord's Passion_.