that he might be clad in a robe of righteousness, and might be made an heir of everlasting life, that Thou didst submit to be deprived of Thy clothing, to be overwhelmed with anguish and distress, and in the end to pay the penalty of a most cruel death.
I praise and magnify Thee, Who wouldest all men to be saved, for the merciless way in which Thou wast stretched out upon the hard wood of the Cross, so roughly spread for Thee as Thy reclining-board; for the sharp piercing of Thy hands and feet, and for the driving into them of huge nails, the noise caused by which could be heard far off, and must have moved to tears even the hardest-hearted of the beholders. Thou wast, also, so firmly nailed to the Cross that Thy veins suddenly burst, and streams of Thy precious Blood poured forth from all parts of Thy Body. So ruthlessly indeed was Thy Body stretched out lengthwise and breadthwise, as if it had been the skin of a drum, that all Thy joints were loosened, and Thy bones could be distinctly counted. Thou didst allow Thy Hands and Thy Feet to be thus pierced •by the ungodly, in order that by having Thy sacred Hands fastened to the Cross, Thou mightest discharge the debt incurred by Adam in stretching forth wicked hands to touch the forbidden tree; and, by shedding Thy innocent Blood, mightest wipe out the long-standing obligation of a sacrifice for sin.
I praise and glorify Thee for Thy being lifted up on high upon the Cross, and for remaining hung so long upon the arms of that Tree of shame — the Tree which was at that time held by all Jews to be accursed, but is now held in supreme honour by all Christians, and blessed above every
