And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him : and the third day he shall rise again.
Ver. 19. To mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him] What are all our sufferings to his? and yet we think ourselves undone, if but touched; and in setting forth our calamities, we add, we multiply, we rise in our discourse, like him in the poet, τρις κακοδαιμων και τετρακις, και πεντακις, και δωδεκακις, και μυριακις (Aristoph.). I am thrice miserable, nay, ten, twenty, a hundred, a thousand times unhappy. And yet all our sufferings are but as the slivers and chips of that cross, upon which Christ, nay, many Christians, have suffered. In the time of Adrain the emperor 10,000 martyrs are said to have been crucified in the Mount of Ararat, crowned with thorns, and thrust into the sides with sharp darts, after the example of the Lord's passion. The chief of whom were Achaicus, Heliades, Theodorus, Carcerius, &c. (Acts and Mon.)