indignation, solicitude for those He loved, and other emotions, struggled within Him. " He shall be filled with reproaches." (Lament, iii. 30.)
IV. The Length. — How long His torments lasted! His whole life before had been a continual suffering. "I am poor and in labors from My youth," says He by the royal Psalmist. (Ps. lxxxvii. 16.) The pains, however, which He suffered from His last supper until His expiration, were excruciating and intolerable, and endured all that night, and the day following, for about twenty hours. Contemplate the cruel and loving scene, and express those feelings which condolence and affection suggest.
HOLY-SATURDAY.
Our Lord's Burial.
I. After Christ was. dead, His sacred body was taken down from the cross by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. They laid the sacred treasure in the Mother's arms, fulfilling the expression in the Canticle, "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me; He shall abide between my breasts." (Cant. i. 12.) Observe with what sighs and tears and what expressions of profound grief she received the mangled body. Ponder what was said and done by her and her devout companions on this occasion. Take care that you make your beloved Saviour "a bundle of myrrh" in your regard, by frequent and affectionate contemplation on His passion. "Gather this bundle for yourselves," says St.Bernard.
II. After grief and love had performed their parts over the dead body of our Lord, His sorrowing friends embalm it and wrap it in a clean winding-sheet. Christ loves cleanliness even in the grave. Learn hence to
