Sacred Dissertations

The Cross of Christ is the foundation of all Religion
Explication of the Latin terms Patibulum, Furca, Crux
The form, the parts, and the size of the cross

The cross of Christ had probably nothing very different
from those in common use

The history of the discovery of the cross by Helena

Which, by many arguments, is shown to be fabulous

Crucifixion was preceded, 1. By beating

Which was done cruelly to Christ

2. By the bearing of the cross

Our Lord was crucified, probably, in the most usual form XXVIII.

The circumstances that commonly followed crucifixion

These were not wanting to the cross of Christ

XXIX.

XXX.

SECT.

The punishment of the cross was justly deemed the highest xxxI.

It was accursed by God himself

XXXII. XXXIII.

The death of Christ on the cross, was indeed holy and

tranquil

Yet cursed

The crucifixion of Christ ought to be devoutly contem-
plated, as full of mysteries, in which we have the deep-

est concern

His being scourged, bearing the cross, and being stripped
of his clothes, were predicted and prefigured of old

David and Zechariah prophesied of the crucifixion

The reading of in Psalm xxii. 17. defended

Types of the crucifixion

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX. XL.

XLI.-XLIII.

The guarding, revilings, and death, were also foretold and

prefigured

XLIV. XLV.

XLVI.

XLVII. XLVIII.

All things, in short, happened to Christ, according to the
determinate counsel of God

Scourging was exceedingly grievous to Christ

And his expulsion from the city, bearing the cross

And his being stripped of his garments

But above all, the punishment of the cross itself

And what immediately succeeded it,-Guarding

Revilings

Death

It is not without a spiritual sympathy, that we should
meditate on these sufferings

LX.-LXII.

LXIII. LXIV.

We should turn all our grief and anger against sin

The crucifixion of Christ, in its several parts, is a spring

of consolation

LXV. LXXIII.

From the death of Christ, we learn to live and to die

holily

LXXIV. LXXV.

DISSERTATION XVII.

On the Burial of Christ.

Pages 117-186.

It is profitable for our instruction, to consider that the
burial of Christ was conducted by wealthy and honour-
able men, and chiefly by Joseph of Arimathea

I. VI.

The dead body of Jesus was wrapped in clean linen, as
an expression of respect

The mixture of myrrh and aloes was added by Nicode-
mus, either for embalming, or for burning

This attention to corpses was probably referred by the
pious to the hope of the resurrection

The form of the Jewish sepulchres

Why the sepulchre allotted to Christ was the property of

another

Hewn out of a rock

SECT.

VII.

VIII. IX.

X.

XI. XII.

XIII.

XIV.

The burial of Christ was foretold, Psalm xxii. 15.

Christ's suspension on the tree, is not his burial with the

Jonah's great fish is not a Whale, but rather a Sea-dog
The fable of Hercules Tri-esperos borrowed from it
"The heart of the earth" is the grave

With regard to the analogy as to time, the simple explan-
ation commonly received seems preferable to the learn-
ed refinements of eminent men

That Christ descended into Hell, is nowhere expressly af-

firmed in Scripture

Nor in the most ancient Creeds

The Creeds which mentioned the descent, were generally

I-IV.

silent with respect to the burial; nor was it without

some mistake that both were afterwards joined together VI. VII.

SE

We should not so much inquire, what some of the an-
cients may have understood, as what they ought to have
understood, by this expression

Christ's descent into hell, as it respects the body, denotes

burial, or the state of death
But it relates also to the soul

IX.-

V

X

XIV.-X

Not as if Christ descended locally, either into the place of
the damned, or into an imaginary Limbus
But this descent expresses metaphorically those extreme
sorrows, which, previously to death, he sustained in his
soul, when united to the body.

The agony of Christ was inexpressibly grievous

As appears from its parts

XVIII-X

He conducted himself, however, in every respect most ho-

lily, remaining altogether without sin

Nor is there any thing culpable in his prayers