fugitive from his native country. Till the age of thirty his occupation was that of a carpenter, at which business he worked with his reputed father. And during the four last years of his life, nothing could exceed the contempt and ignominy with which he was treated. He was called a deceiver, a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber : he was said to be in league with Satan himself: and the people thought they spake well and properly concerning him, when they said, He hath a devil, and is madb : yea, they even called him Beelzebub, the prince of the devils0. But, most of all, when the time of his crucifixion drew nigh, then all ranks of people seemed to vie with each other in insulting him. They arrayed him in mock majesty with a purple robe, a crown of thorns on his head, and a reed or cane in his hand for a sceptre. They spat on him, they smote him, they plucked off his beard, according to that prediction, ' I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair ; I hid not my face from shame and spittingd." Nor was this the conduct of a few only : for he was universally execrated ; he was considered as " a worm and no man, the very scorn of men, and the outcast of the people :" he was " one, whom man despised, and whom the nation abhorred" Having loaded him with all manner of indignities, and " plowed up his back with scourges, so as to make long furrows" in it, they nailed him to the cross, and left him to hang there, till exhausted nature should sink under the torments inflicted on him.
But, as others of mankind have been called to en- dure many things, let us particularly notice wherein Ms sufferings ivere unparalleled; for it is certain that " his visage was marred more than any man's." And here we shall find that both in variety and intenseness, they infinitely surpassed all that ever were sustained by any human being. In his civil state, as a member of society, he was degraded so low, that even a mur- derer was preferred before him. In his natural state, b John viii. 48. c Matt. x. 25. d Isai. 1. 6.