4. And lastly, It was a prayer accompanied with a strange and wonderful agony : so saith verse 44. " and being in an agony, he " prayed more earnestly ; and his sweat was it were great drops " of blood falling down to the ground." Now he was red indeed in his apparel, as one that trod the wine-press. "It was not a " faint thin dew, but a clotted sweat *, ^o(a/3o/ a//xard?," dodders of blood falling upon the ground. It is disputed whether this sweat was natural or preternatural. That some in extremity have sweat a kind of bloody thin dew, is affirmed. I remember f Thuanus
* Non Jv.it sudor diaphoreticus% sed crassus et grumosus.
f Dux quidem indigno mortis nwtu ad^o cuncussus in anirno fuit> ul sanguincum sv&OT&n ato eorpore fudM. Thuan. lib. 1 1 .
278 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXII.
gives us two instances that come nearest to this, of any thing I ever observed or heard of. " The one was a captain, who by a " cowardl v and unworthy fear of death was so overwhelmed with " anguish, that a kind of bloody dew or sweat stood on all his body. " * The other is of a young man condemned for a small matter to " die bv Sixtus V. who poured out tears of blood from his eyes, and sweat blood from his whole body."
These are rare and strange instances, and the trtfth of them de- pends upon the credit of the relator ; but certainly for Christ whose bodv had the most excellent crasis and temperament, to sweat clotted blood, or globules of blood, as some render it ; and that in a cold night, when others needed a fire within doors to keep them warm, John xviii. 18. I say, for him to sweat such streams through his garments, falling to the ground on which he lay, must be con- cluded a preternatural thing. And indeed, it was not wonderful that such a preternatural sweat should stream from all parts of his body, if you do but consider what an extraordinary load pressed his soul at that time, even such as no mere man felt, or was able to stand under, even the wrath of a great and terrible God, in the extremity of it. " Who (saith the prophet Nahum, chap. i. 6.) " can stand before his indignation ? And who can abide in the " fierceness of his anger ? His fury is poured out like fire, and " the rocks are thrown down by him."
The effects of this wrath, as it fell at this time upon the soul of Christ in the garden, are largely and very emphatically expressed by the several Evangelists who wrote this tragedy. Matthew tells us, his soul was " exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," Matth. xxvi. 38. " The word f signifies beset with grief round about.1' And it is well expressed by that phrase of the psalmist, " The sor- " rows of death compassed me about, the pains of hell got hold " upon me." Mark varies the expression, and gives it us in ano- ther word no less significant and full, Mark xiv. 33. " He began " to be sore amazed and very heavy," J " Sore amazed, it imports " so high a degree of consternation and amazement, as when the " hair of the head stands up through fear/' Luke hath anotlier expression for it in the text ; he was e» aywta, in an agony. An agony is the labouring and striving of nature in extremity. And John gives it us in another expression, John xii. 27. " Now is my
* Juvenis ob levem casuu?ny a Sirto V. ad mortem damnatus, jrrez doloris vehementia, iacrymas cruentas sudasse, et sanguine?n pro sudore e toto corpore mittere visus est. Thuan, lib. 80.
t Uiet'/.wrog, undequaque tristis. Beza.
J 'E'/Ja/jLjSiKjdai, medici vocant horripUationem ; %cu ct,dr,/jumivt gravissime ange- batur. Beza,
SERM. XXII. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 279
«< soul troubled.* The original word is a very full word. And it is conceived the Latins derive that word which signifies hell, from this, by which Christ's troubles are here expressed. * This was the load which oppressed his soul, and so straitened it with fear and grief, that his eyes could not vent or ease sufficiently by tears; but the innumerable pores of his body are set open, to give vent by letting out streams of blood. And yet all this while, no hand of man was upon him. This was but a prelude, as it were, to the conflict that was at hand. This bloody sweat in which he prayed, was but as the giving or sweating of the stones before a great rain. Now he stood as it were, arraigned at God's bar, and had to do immediate- ly with him. And you know " it is a fearful thing to fall into the " hands of the living God.1' The uses of this follow in this order.
Inference 1. Did Christ pour out his soul to God so ardently in the garden, when the hour of his trouble was at hand ? Hence we infer, That prayer is a singular preparative for ; and relief under, the greatest troubles.
It is sweet, when troubles find us in the way of our duty. The best posture we can wrestle with afflictions in, is to engage them upon our knees. The naturalist tells us, if a lion find a man prostrate, he will do him no harm. Christ hastened to the garden to pray, when Judas and the soldiers were hastening thither to apprehend him. O ! wljen we are nigh to danger it is good for us to draw nigh to ouF God. Then should we be urging that seasonable request to God, Psal. xxii. 11. "Be not far from me, " for trouble is near ; for there is none to help." Wo be to him, whom death or trouble finds afar off from God. And as prayer is the best preparative for troubles, so the choicest relief under them. Griefs are eased by groans. The heart is cooled and dis- burdened by spiritual evaporations. You know it is some relief if a man can pour out his complaint into the bosom of a faithful friend, though he can but pity him ; how much more to pour out our complaints into the bosom of a faithful God, who can both pity and help us ; Luther was wont to call prayers the leeches of his cares and sorrows ; they suck out the bad blood. It is the title of Psal. cii. A prayer for the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. It is no small ease to open our hearts to God. When we are as full of grief, as Elihu was of matter, let us say as he did, Job xxxii. 19. " Behold, Lord, # my heart is as wine which hath no vent, it; is ready to burst as " new bottles. I will speak that I may be refreshed."
* Tiragaxrai, Unde Tartarus^ quia terret omnia,
280 THE FOUNTAIN OT LIFE. SERM. XXIT.