28. But perhaps He feared the pain of wounds. Say then, What terror had the thrust of the nail for Him Who merely by His touch restored the ear that was cut off? You who assert the weakness of the Lord, explain this work of power at the moment when His flesh was weak and suffering. Peter drew his sword and smote: the High Priest’s servant stood there, lopped of his ear. How was the flesh of the ear restored from the bare wound by the touch of Christ? Amidst the flowing blood, and the wound left by the cleaving sword, when the body was so maimed, whence sprang forth an ear which was not there? Whence came that which did not exist before? Whence was restored that which was wanting? Did the hand, which created an ear, feel the pain of the nails? He prevented another from feeling the pain of a wound: did He feel it Himself? His touch could restore the flesh that was cut off; was He sorrowful because He feared the piercing of His own flesh? And if the body of Christ had this virtue, dare we allege infirmity in that nature, whose natural force could counteract all the natural infirmities of man?

28. An doloris.---Sed forte dolorem vulnerum timuit. Quem, rogo, penetrantis in carnem clavi habuit horrorem , qui excisae auris carnem solo restituit attactu (Luc. XXII, 51)? Expone nobis tu, dominicae infirmitatis assertor, hoc in ipso passionis tempore infirmatae opus carnis. Exserente enim Petro atque adigente gladium, truncus aure servus sacerdotis adstabat. Quomodo ex decisae auris vulnere, contingente Christo, restituta caro auris 0367C est? Unde inter fluentem sanguinem et post ipsa 0368A discindentis gladii vestigia, et in ipsa trunci corporis calumnia, exiit quod non est, et sequitur quod non exstat, et rependitur quod caretur? Producens haec ergo aurem manus, clavum dolet? et sentit sibi vulnus, qui alteri dolorem vulneris non relinquit? Compungendae carnis metu tristis est, cujus attactui licet carnem donare post caedem? Quod si haec in Christi corpore virtus fuit, qua, rogo, fide naturaliter infirmus fuisse defenditur, cui naturale fuit omnem humanarum infirmitatum inhibere naturam?