6. “Then the cohort, and the tribune, and the officers of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound Him.” They took Him to whom they had never found access: for He continued the day, while they remained as darkness; neither had they given heed to the words, “Come unto Him, and be enlightened.”1809    Ps. xxxiv. 5. For had they so approached Him, they would have taken Him, not with their hands for the purpose of murder, but with their hearts for the purpose of a welcome reception. Now, however, when they laid hold of Him in this way, their distance from Him was vastly in creased: and they bound Him by whom they themselves ought rather to have been loosed. And perhaps there were those among them who then fastened their fetters on Christ, and yet were afterwards delivered by Him, and could say, “Thou hast loosed my bonds.”1810    Ps. cxvi. 16. Let this be enough for to-day; we shall deal, God willing, with what follows in another discourse.

6. Cohors autem et tribunus et ministri Judaeorum comprehenderunt Jesum, et ligaverunt eum. Comprehenderunt ad quem non accesserunt: quoniam dies ille, illi vero tenebrae permanserunt; nec audierunt, Accedite ad eum et illuminamini (Psal. XXXIII, 6). Si enim sic accederent, non eum manibus occidendum, sed recipiendum corde comprehenderent. Nunc autem quando eum illo modo comprehenderunt, tunc ab illo longius recesserunt: et ligaverunt eum a quo solvi potius velle debuerunt. Et erant fortassis in eis qui tunc imposuerunt Christo vincula sua, atque ab eo postea liberati dixerunt, Disrupisti vincula mea (Psal. CXV, 16). Haec hodie satis sint; tractabuntur. Deo volente, sermone alio quae sequuntur.