To form an idea of Christ's sufferings, we should consider the poverty of his birth; the reproach of his character; the pains of his body; the power of his enemies; the desertion of his friends; the weight of his people's sins; the slow, ignominious, and painful nature of his death; and the hidings of his Father's face. All these rendered his sufferings extremely severe; yet some heretics said, that the sufferings of Christ were only in appearance, and not real: but, as Bishop Pearson observes, "If hunger and thirst; if revilings and contempt; if sorrows and agonies; if stripes and buffeting; if condemnation and crucifixion, be sufferings, Jesus suffered. If the infirmities of our nature; if the weight of our sins; if the malice of men; if the machinations of Satan; if the hand of God, could make him suffer, our Saviour suffered. If the annals of time; if the writings of the apostles; if the death of his martyrs; if the confession of Gentiles; if the scoffs of the Jews, be testimonies, Jesus suffered." Pearson on the Creed; Dr. Rambach's Meditations on the Sufferings of Christ. For the end of Christ's sufferings, see DEATH OF CHRIST.