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made a sport of those exquisite cruelties, which their very tyrants thought unsufferable! Whence had they this strength but from thee? If their weakness were thus undaunted and prevalent, what was thy power? No, no: it was the sad weight of the sin of mankind; it was the heavy burden of thy Father's wrath for our sin, that thus pressed thy soul, and wrung from thee these bitter expressions.

What can it avail thee, O Saviour, to tell thy grief to men? Who can ease thee, but he, of whom thou saidst, My Father is. greater than I! Lo, to him thou turnest; O Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

Was not this that prayer, O dear Christ, which in the days of thy flesh thou offeredst up with strong crying and tears to him, that was able to save thee from death? Surely, this was it. Never was cry so strong; never was God thus solicited. How could heaven choose but shake at such a prayer from the power that made it? How can my heart but tremble, to hear this suit from the Captain of our Salvation? O thou, that saidst, I and my Father are one, dost thou suffer aught from thy Father, but what thou wouldst, what thou determinedst? Was this cup of thine either casual or forced? Wouldst thou wish for what thou knewest thou wouldst not have possible? Far, far be these misraised thoughts of our ig norance and frailty. Thou camest to suffer, and thou wouldst do what thou camest for; yet, since thou wouldst be a man, thou wouldst take all of man, save sin: it is but human, and not sinful, to be loth to suffer what we may, avoid. In this velleity of thine, thou wouldst shew what that nature of ours, which thou hadst assumed, could incline to wish; but in thy resolution, thou wouldst shew us what thy victorious thoughts, raised and assisted by thy Divine power, had determinately pitched upon; Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. As man, thou hadst a will of thine own: no human soul can be perfect without that main faculty. That will, which naturally could be content to incline towards an exemption from miseries, gladly vails to that Divine will, whereby thou art designed to the chastisements of our peacc. Those pains, which in themselves were grievous, thou embracest as decreed; so as thy fear hath given place to thy love and obedience. How should we have known these evils so formidable, if thou hadst not in half a thought inclined to deprecate them? How could we have avoided so formidable and deadly evils, if thou hadst not willingly undergone them? We acknowledge thy holy fear; we adore thy Divine fortitude.

While thy mind was in this fearful agitation, it is no marvel, if thy feet were not fixed. Thy place is more changed, than thy thoughts. One while, thou walkest to thy drowsy attendants, and stirrest up their needful vigilancy: then thou returnest to thy passionate devotions, thou fallest again upon thy face.

If thy body be humbled down to the earth, thy soul is yet lower: thy prayers are so much more vehement, as thy pangs are; And

being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

O my Saviour, what an agony am I in, while I think of thine! What pain, what fear, what strife, what horror was in thy Sacred Breast! How didst thou struggle under the weight of our sins, that thou thus sweatest, that thou thus bleedest! All was peace with thee thou wert one with thy co-eternal and co-essential Father; all the Angels worshipped thee; all the powers of heaven and earth awfully acknowledged thine infiniteness. It was our person that feoffed thee in this misery and torment in that, thou sustainedst thy Father's wrath and our curse, If eternal death be insufferable, if every sin deserve eternal death, what, Oh what was it for thy soul, in this short time of thy bitter Passion, to answer those millions of eternal deaths, which all the sins of all mankind had deserved from the just hand of thy Godhead? I marvel not, if thou bleedest a sweat, if thou sweatest blood. If the moisture of that sweat be from the body, the tincture of it is from the soul. As there never was such another sweat, so neither can there be ever such a suffering. It is no wonder, if the sweat were more than natural, when the suffering was more than human. O Saviour, so willing was that precious blood of thine to be let forth for us, that it was ready to prevent thy persecutors; and issued forth in those pores, before thy wounds were opened by thy tormenters. Oh that my heart could bleed unto thee, with true inward compunction for those sins of mine, which are guilty of this thine Agony; and have drawn blood of thee, both in the garden and on the cross. Woe is me: I had been in hell, if thou hadst not been in thine Agony; I had scorched, if thou hadst not sweat. Oh let me abhor my own

wickedness, and admire and bless thy mercy.

But, O ye blessed spirits, which came to comfort my conflicted. Saviour, how did ye look upon the Son of God, when ye saw him labouring for life under these violent temptations! With what astonishment, did ye behold him bleeding whom ye adored! In the Wilderness, after his duel with Satan, ye came and ministered unto him; and now in the Garden, while he is in a harder combat, ye appear to strengthen him. O the wise and marvellous dispensation of the Almighty! Whom God will afflict, an angel shall relieve; the Son shall suffer, the servant shall comfort him; the God of Angels droopeth, the angel of God strengthens him.

Blessed Jesu, if as man thou wouldst be made a little lower than the angels, how can it disparage thee to be attended and cheered up by an angel? Thine humiliation would not disdain comfort from meaner hands. How free was it for thy Father, to convey seasonable consolations to thine humbled soul, by whatsoever means! Behold, though thy cup shall not pass, yet it shall be sweetened. What if thou see not, for the time, thy Father's face? yet, thou shalt feel his hand. What could that spirit have done, without the God of Spirits? O Father of Mercies, thou mayest bring thine into Agonies, but thou wilt never leave them there. In the midst of the sorrows of my heart, thy comforts shall refresh my

soul. Whatsoever be the means of my supportation, I know and adore the Author. Matthew xxvi. Mark xiv. Luke rrii.

PETER AND MALCHUS: OR, CHRIST APPREHENDED. WHEREFORE, O Saviour, didst thou take those three choice disciples with thee from their fellows, but that thou expectedst some comfort from their presence? A seasonable word may sometimes fall from the meanest attendant; and the very society of those we trust carries in it some kind of contentment.

Alas! what broken reeds are men! While thou art sweating in thine Agony, they are snoring securely. Admonitions, threats, entreaties cannot keep their eyes open. Thou teliest them of danger, they will needs dream of ease; and though twice roused, as if they had purposed this neglect, they carelessly sleep out thy sorrow and their own peril. What help hast thou of such followers? In the mount of thy Transfiguration, they slept; and, besides, fell on their faces, when they should behold thy glory, and were not themselves for fear: in the garden of thine Agony, they fell upon the ground for drowsiness, when they should compassionate thy sorrow, and lost themselves in a stupid sleepiness.

Doubtless, even this disregard made thy prayers so much more fervent. The less comfort we find on earth, the more we seek above. Neither soughtest thou more, than thou foundest: Lo, thou wert heard in that which thou fearedst. An angel supplies men: that spirit was vigilant, while thy disciples were heavy. The exchange was happy.

No sooner is this good angel vanished, than that domestic devil appears. Judas comes up, and shews himself in the head of those miscreant troops. He, whose too much honour it had been to be a follower of so Blessed a Master, affects now to be the leader of this wicked rabble. The sheep's fleece is now cast off; the wolf appears in his own likeness.

He, that would be false to his Master, would be true to his chapmen. Even evil spirits keep touch with themselves.

The bold traitor dare yet still mix hypocrisy with villainy: his very salutations and kisses murder. O Saviour, this is no news to thee. All those, who under a shew of godliness practise impiety, do still betray thee thus.

Thou, who hadst said, One of you is a devil, didst not now say, "Avoid Satan ;" but, Friend, wherefore art thou come? As yet, Judas, it was not too late. Had there been any the least spark of grace yet remaining in that perfidious bosom, this word had fetched thee upon thy knees. All this sunshine cannot thaw an obdurate heart.

The sign is given; Jesus is taken. Wretched traitor! why wouldst thou, for this purpose, be thus attended? And, ye foolish Priests and Elders! why sent you such a band, and so armed, for this apprehension? One messenger had been enough for a voluntary prisoner. Had my Saviour been unwilling to be taken, all

your forces, with all the legions of hell to help them, had been too little since he was willing to be attached, two were too many. When he did but say, I am he, that easy breath alone routed all your troops, and cast them to the earth, whom it might as easily have cast down into hell, What if he had said, "I will not be taken?" where had ye been? or what could your swords and staves have done against Omnipotence?

Those disciples, that failed of their vigilance, failed not of their courage. They had heard their Master speak of providing swords, and now they thought it was time to use them: Shall we smite? They were willing to fight for him, with whom they were not careful to watch. But, of all other, Peter was most forward: instead of opening his lips, he unsheaths his sword; and instead of "Shall I?" smites. He had noted Malchus, a busy servant of the high priest, too ready to second Judas, and to lay his rude hands upon the Lord of Life: against this man, his heart rises, and his hand is lift up. That ear, which had too officiously listened to the unjust and cruel charge of his wicked master, is now severed from that worse head, which it had mis-served.

I love and honour thy zeal, O blessed disciple: thou couldst not brook wrong done to thy Divine Master. Had thy life been dearer to thee than his safety, thou hadst not drawn thy sword upon a whole troop. It was in earnest that thou saidst, Though all men, yet not I; and, Though I should die with thee, yet I will not deny thee. Lo, thou art ready to die upon him, that should touch that Sacred Person: what would thy life now have been, in comparison of renouncing him?

Since thou wert so fervent, why didst thou not rather fall upon that treachor that betrayed him, than that serjeant that arrested him? Surely, the sin was so much greater, as the plot of mischief is more than the execution; as a domestic is nearer than a stranger; as the treason of a friend is worse than the forced enmity of a hireling. Was it, that the guilty wretch upon the fact done subduced himself, and shrouded bis false head under the wings of darkness? Was it, that thou couldst not so suddenly apprehend the odious depth of that villainy, and instantly hate him that had been thy old companion? Was it, that thy amazedness as yet conceived not the purposed issue of this seizure, and astonishedly waited for the success? Was it, that though Judas were more faulty, yet Malchus was more imperiously cruel?

Howsoever, thy courage was awaked with thyself; and thy heart was no less sincere than thy hand was rash. Put up again thy sword into his place; for all they, that take the sword, shall perish with the sword. Good intentions are no warrant for our actions. O Saviour, thou canst at once accept of our meanings, and censure our deeds. Could there be an affection more worth encouragement, than the love to such a Master? Could there be a more just cause, wherein to draw his sword, than in thy quarrel? Yet this love, this quarrel cannot shield Peter from thy check: thy meek tongue smites him gently, who had furiously smote thine enemy; Put up thy sword.

It was Peter's sword; but to put up, not to use there is a sword, which Peter may use; but it is of another metal. Our weapons are, as our warfare, spiritual: if he smite not with this, he incurs no less blame, than for smiting with the other. As for this material sword, what should he do with it, that is not allowed to strike? When the Prince of Peace bade his followers sell their coat and buy a sword, he meant to insinuate the need of these arms, not their improvement; and to teach them the danger of the time, not the manner of the repulse of danger. When they therefore said, Behold, here are two swords; he answered, It is enough he said not, "Go buy more." More had not been enow, if a bodily defence had been intended. David's tower had been too strait to yield sufficient furniture of this kind. When it comes to use, Peter's one sword is too much: Put up thy sword. Indeed, there is a temporal sword; and that sword must be drawn, else wherefore is it? but drawn by him, that bears it; and he bears it, that is ordained to be an avenger, to execute wrath upon him that doth evil; for he bears not the sword in vain. If another man draw it, it cuts his fingers; and draws so much blood of him that unwarrantably wields it, as that he, who takes the sword, shall perish with the sword.

Can I chuse but wonder, how Peter could thus strike unwounded? how he, whose first blow made the fray, could escape hewing in pieces from that band of ruffians? This could not have been, if thy power, O Saviour, had not restrained their rage; if thy seasonable and sharp reproof had not prevented their revenge.

Now, for ought I see, Peter smarts no less than Malchus: nei, ther is Peter's ear less smitten by the mild tongue of his Master, than Malchus's ear by the hand of Peter, "Weak disciple! thou hast zeal, but not according to knowledge: there is not more danger in this act of thine, than inconsideration and ignorance. The cup, which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Thou drawest thy sword, to rescue me from suffering. Alas! if I suffer not, what would become of thee? what would become of mankind? where were that eternal and just decree of my Father, wherein I am a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world? Dost thou go about to hinder thine own and the whole world's redemption? Did I not once before call thee Satan, for suggesting to me this immunity from my Passion? and dost thou now think to favour me with a real opposition to this great and necessary work? Canst thou be so weak as to imagine, that this suffering of mine is not free and voluntary Canst thou be so injurious to me, as to think I yield, because I want aid to resist? Have I not given to thee and to the world many undeniable proofs of my Omnipotence? Didst thou not see how easy it had been for me, to have blown away these poor forces of my adversaries? Dost thou not know, that, if I would require it, all the glorious troops of the angels of heaven, any one whereof is more than worlds of men, would presently shew themselves ready to attend and rescue me? Might this have stood with the justice of my decree, with the glory of my mercy, with the be nefit of man's redemption, it had been done; my power should

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