Eighteen sermons preached in Oxford 1640 of conversion, unto God. Of redemption, & justification,…

First there was a long beam, on which the party was to be stretched, and there was a cross-beam on which the hands were to be stretched: they pulled them up upon the Cross before they fastened them; they pulled him to his utmost length. And this is that the Psalmist speaks of, Psal. 22.17. You might tell all my bones. His ribs were so stretched, as that they even pierced the flesh: Conceive him now thus stretched with his hands and feet nailed to the wood: the stretching of Christ on the Cross, was such a thing as the working of the rack. Imagine him before your eyes thus represented. Your sins crucified him: being thus stretched upon the Cross to his full length, the hands and the feet were fastened and nailed to the wood. Its no small torment to have the hands bored, especially if we behold the place, it was through the lower part of the hand where the veins and sinews all met together: It's ⟨p. 387⟩a place that is full of sense, Consider withal the bigness of the nails: Psal. 22. They have digged my hands to show the bigness of the spikes: for the original bears it, They digged him. Believe not the painters: Our Saviour had four nails: Not one through both feet as they describe it, but two through his hands, and two through his feet: And that you may the better comprehend it, you must know that toward the lower part of the cross, there went along a ledge or three-should whereto his feet were nailed, otherwise the flesh would have rent by reason of the nails, if he had hung by the hands alone.

First there was a long beam, on which the party was to be stretched, and there was a cross-beam on which the hands were to be stretched: they pul'd them up upon the Cross before they fastened them; they pul'd him to his utmost length. And this is that the Psalmist speaks of, Psal. 22.17. You might tell all my bones. His ribs were so stretched, as that they even pierced the flesh: Conceive him now thus stretched with his hands and feet nailed to the wood: the stretching of Christ on the Cross, was such a thing as the working of the racke. Imagine him before your eyes thus represented. Your sins crucified him: being thus stretched upon the Cross to his full length, the hands and the feet were fastned and nailed to the wood. Its no smal torment to have the hands bored, especially if we behold the place, it was through the lower part of the hand where the veins and sinnews all met together: It's