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kiss, the same was he, hold him fast. There our Lord beheld his adversaries coming with burning torches and lanterns, and weapons to apprehend him; then spake he to his disciples, and said “Rise let us go; behold he is at hand that will betray me.” And while he was speaking, came Judas the traitor, saying, Hail, Master, and kissed him. For it is written, that it was the manner and custom of our Lord Jesus towards his disciples, that when at any time he had sent them out, at their return again, he would receive them with a loving kiss. Then they laid hands on the Lord, and bound him as a thief and a murderer, and led him away to the high Priest and Elders, who asked him many questions; to which our Lord gave them no answer, but stood like a lamb dumb before his shearers. And here let us behold our Lord Jesus, how patiently and meekly he receives that false and treacherous kiss from that unfaithful disciple, whose feet he had vouchsafed to wash with his own hands, and whom out of his unspeakable charity he refused not to feed with the precious food of his blessed body. Consider likewise how meekly he suffered himself to be taken, bound, struck, and furiously dragged away, as if he had been a thief, or the most wicked person in the world, void of power to help himself. Contemplate also the great sorrow and inward affliction he had of his disciples, who fled and left him in the hands of those ravenous wolves. And on the other side, consider the grief of their hearts, since the cause of their leaving him was not the perversity of their will, but the frailty of their weak nature: for which they heartily mourn and sigh, like poor orphans that know not what they do, or whither to go; and their sorrow was so much the greater, as they knew in what villanous manner
