attempt to save Jesus from the hands of His
prosecutors, whose rage against their Victim was only intensified by
the struggle in which they had engaged; and there was no course now
open to him but to hand Jesus over to the executioners for, at least,
the preliminary tortures of crucifixion.

It is not in accordance with modern Christian sentiment to dwell very
much on the physical sufferings of Christ. Once the feeling on this
subject was very different: in old writers, like the mystic Tauler, for
example, every detail is enlarged upon and even exaggerated, till the
page seems to reek with blood and the mind of the reader grows sick
with horror. We rather incline to throw a veil over the ghastly
details, or we uncover them only so far as may be necessary in order to
understand the condition of His mind, in which we seek His real
sufferings.

The sacred body of our Lord was exposed to many shocks and cruelties
before the final and complicated horrors of the crucifixion. First,
there was His agony in the garden. Then--not to speak of the chains
laid on Him when He was arrested--there was the blow on the face from
the servant of the high priest. After His condemnation by the
ecclesiastical authorities in the middle of the night they "did spit in
His face and buffeted Him;" and others smote Him with the palms of
their hands, saying, "Prophesy unto us, Thou Christ. Who is he that
smote Thee?" The present is, therefore, the fourth access of physical
suffering which He had to endure.

First, they scourged Him. This was done by the Roman soldiers by order
of their master Pilate, though the governor, in all likelihood, retired
from the scene while it was being inflicted. It took place, it would
appear, on the platform where the trial had been held, and in the eyes
of all. The victim was stripped and stretched against a pillar, or
bent over a low post, his hands being tied, so that he had no means of
defending himself. The instrument of torture was a sort of knout or
cat-o'-nine-tails, with bits of iron or bone attached to the ends of
the thongs. Not only did the blows cut the skin and draw blood, but
not infrequently the victim died in the midst of the operation. Some
have supposed that Pilate, out of consideration for Jesus, may have
moderated either the number or the severity of the strokes; but, on the
other hand, his plan of releasing Him depended on his being able to
show the Jews that He had suffered severe