The Fountain of Life
The Fountain of Life opened up: or, a display
of Christ in his essential and mediatorial glory
by John Flavel
The third preparative Act of Christ for
his own Death
"And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and
kneeled down, and prayed, Saying--Father, if you are willing, remove this
cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done. And there
appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 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." Luke 22:41-44
The hour is now almost come, even that hour of sorrow,
which Christ had so often spoken of. Yet a little, a very little while, and
the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. He has affectionately
recommended his children to his Father. He has set his house in order, and
ordained a memorial of his death to be left with his people, as you have
heard. There is but one thing more to do, and then the tragedy begins. He
recommended us, he must also recommend himself by prayer to the Father; and
when that is done, he is ready, let Judas with the black guard come when
they will.
This last act of Christ's preparation for his own death,
is contained in this scripture; wherein we have an account, 1. Of his
prayer. 2. Of the agony attending it. 3. His relief in that agony, by an
angel that came and comforted him.
1. The prayer of Christ; in a praying posture he will be
found when the enemy comes; he will be taken upon his knees: he was pleading
hard with God in prayer, for strength to carry him through this heavy trial,
when they came to take him. And this prayer was a very remarkable prayer,
both for the solitariness of it, he withdrew about a stone's cast, verse 41.
from his dearest intimates, no ear but his Father's shall hear what he had
now to say; and for the vehemency and importunity of it; these were those "iketerias",
Heb. 5:7. strong cries that he poured out to God in the days of his flesh.
And for the humility expressed in it; he fell upon the ground, he rolled
himself as it were in the dust, at his Father's feet. And in divers other
respects it was a very remarkable prayer, as you will hear anon.
2. This scripture gives you also an account of the agony
of Christ, as well as of big prayer, and that a most strange one: such as in
all respects never was known before in nature. It was a sweat as it had been
blood, which, [as] is neither an hyperbole, as some would make it: nor yet a
similitude of blood; as others fancy, but a real bloody sweat. For so [as]
is sometimes taken for the very thing itself, as John 1:14. And as a worthy
divine of our own well notes, that if the Holy Spirit had only intended it
for a similitude or resemblance, he would rather have expressed it, as it
were drops of water, than as it were drops of blood, for sweat more
resembles water than blood.
3. You have here his relief in this his agony and that by
an angel dispatched post from heaven to comfort him. The Lord of angels now
needed the comfort of an angel. It was time to have a little refreshment
when his face and body too stood as full of drops of blood, as the drops of
dew are upon the grass. Hence we note,
DOCTRINE. That our Lord Jesus Christ was praying to
his Father in an extraordinary agony, when they came to apprehend him in the
garden.
To open and explain this last act of preparation on
Christ's part for our use, I shall at this time speak of these particulars.
First, The place where he prayed. Secondly, The time when he prayed.
Thirdly, The matter of his prayer. And lastly, The manner how he prayed.
First, For the circumstance of place, where was this last
and remarkable prayer poured out to God? It was in the garden. Matthew tells
us it was called Gethsemane, which signifies, (as Pareus on the place
observes) "the valley of fatness, namely, of olives, which grew in that
valley or garden most plentifully". This garden lay very near to the city of
Jerusalem. The city had twelve gates, five of which were on the east side of
it, among which the most remarkable were the fountain gate, so called of the
fountain Siloe. Through this gate Christ rode into the city in triumph, when
he came from Bethany, the other was the sheep-gate, so called from the
multitude of sheep driven in at it for the sacrifice, for it stood close by
the temple; and close by this gate was the garden called Gethsemane, where
they apprehended Christ, and led him through this gate, as a sheep to the
slaughter. Between this garden and the city, ran the brook Cedron, which
rose from a hill upon the south, and ran upon the east part of the city,
between Jerusalem and the mount of olives: and over this brook Christ passed
into the garden, John 18:1. To which the Psalmist alludes in Psalm. 110:7.
"He shall drink of the brook in the way; therefore he shall lift up the
head." For this brook running through the valley of Jehosaphat, that fertile
soil, together with the filth of the city which it washed away, gave the
waters a black tincture, and so fitly resembled those grievous sufferings of
Christ, in which he tasted both the wrath of God and men.
Now, Christ went not into this garden to hide, or shelter
himself from his enemies. No, that was not his end; for if so, it had been
the most improper place he could have chosen, it being the accustomed place
where he was accustomed to pray, and a place well known to Judas, who was
now coming to seek him, as you may see, John 18:2. "And Judas, which
betrayed him, knew the place, for Jesus ofttimes resorted there with his
disciples." So that he repairs there, not to shun, but to meet the enemy; to
offer himself as a prey to the wolves, which there found him, and laid hold
upon him. He also resorted there for an hour or two of privacy before they
came, that he might there freely pour out his soul to God. So much for the
circumstances of place where he prayed.
Secondly, We shall consider the time when he entered into
this garden to pray: and it was in the shutting in of the evening: for it
was after the passover and the supper were ended. Then (as Matthew has it,
chapter 26:36.) Jesus went over the brook into the garden, between the hours
of nine and ten in the evening, as it is conjectured; and so he had between
two and three hours time to pour out his soul to God. For it was about
midnight that Judas and the soldiers came and apprehended him there. So that
it being immediately before his apprehension, it shows us in what frame and
posture Christ desired to be found: and by it he left us an excellent
pattern, what we ought to do, when imminent dangers are near us, even at the
door. It becomes a soldier to die fighting, "and a minister to die
preaching," and a Christian to die praying. If they come, they will find
Christ upon his knees, wrestling mightily with God by prayer. He never spent
one moment of the time of his life idly; but these were the last moments he
had to live in the world, and here you may see how they were filled up and
employed.
Thirdly, Next let us consider the matter of his prayers
or the things about which he poured out his soul to God in the garden, that
evening. And verse 42 informs us what that was: he prayed, saying, "Father,
if you be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but
your be done." These words are involved in many difficulties, as Christ
himself was when he uttered them. By the cup, understand that portion of
sorrows then to be distributed to him by his Father. Great afflictions and
bitter trials are frequently expressed, in scripture, under the metaphor of
a cup. So, that dreadful storm of wrath upon the wicked, in Psalm. 11:6.
"Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone and a horrible
tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup," that is the punishment
allotted to them by God for their wickedness. And an exceeding great misery,
by a large or deep cup. So Ezek. 23:32, 33, "You shall drink of your
sister's cup deep and large; you shall be laughed to scorn, and had in
derision; it containeth much. You shall be filled with drunkenness and
sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your
sister Samaria." And when an affliction is compounded of many bitter
ingredients, stinging and aggravating considerations and circumstances, then
it is said to be mixed. "In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the
wine is red, (noting a bloody trial) it is full of mixture, and he pours out
the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them
out and drink them:" that is their shall have the worst part of the
judgement for their share. Thus afflictions and calamities are expressed by
the metaphor of a cup; great calamities by a deep and large cup; afflictions
compounded of many aggravating circumstances, by a mixed cup. And from the
effect it has on those that must drink it, is called a cup of trembling, Isa.
57:17. "You have drunken at the hand of the Lord, the cup of his fury, the
dregs of the cup of trembling." Such a cup now was Christ's cup; a cup of
wrath; a large and deep cup, that contained more wrath than ever was drunk
by any creature, seen the wrath of an infinite God. A mixed cup, mixed with
God's wrath and man's in the extremity. And all the bitter aggravating
circumstances that ever could be imagined; great consternation and
amazement; this was the portion of his cup.
By the passing of the cup from him, understand his
exemption from suffering that dreadful and horrid wrath of God, which he
foresaw to be now at hand. For as the coming of the cup to a man, does, in
scripture-phrase, note his bearing and suffering of evil, as you find it,
Lam. 4:21. "Rejoice and be g}ad, O daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land
of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto you; you shall be drunken, and
make yourself naked;" which is an ironical reproof at the Idumeans, the
deadly enemies of the Jews, who wickedly insulted over them, when the cup
was at their mouths: as if the Lord had said, you have laughed and jeered at
my people, when my hand was on them; you rejoiced to see their calamities:
well, make yourselves merry still if you can, the cup shall pass through
unto you; your turn is coming, then laugh if you canned. So, on the
contrary, the passing away of the cup, notes freedom from, or our escaping
of those miseries. And so Christ's meaning, in this conditional request, is,
Father, if it be your will, excuse me from this dreadful wrath; my soul is
amazed at it. Is there no way to shun it? Cannot I be excused? Or if it be
possible, spare me. This is the meaning of it. But then here is the
difficulty, how Christ, who knew God had from everlasting determined he
should drink it, who had compacted and agreed with him in the covenant of
redemption so to do, who came (as himself acknowledges) for that end into
the world, John 18:37, who foresaw this hour all along, and professed when
he spoke of this bloody baptism with which he was to be baptized, that he
was "straitened until it was accomplished," Luke 12:50. How (I say) to
reconcile all this with such a petition, that now when the cup was delivered
to him, it might pass, or he excused from suffering; this is the knot, this
is the difficulty.
What! did he now repent of his engagement? Was all he
said before but a nourish, before he saw the enemy? Does he nor begin to
wish to be disengaged, and that he had never undertaken such a work? Is that
the meaning of it? No, no, Christ never repented of his engagement to the
Father, never was willing to let the burden lie on us, rather than on
himself; there was not such a thought in his holy and faithful heart; but
the resolution of this doubt depends upon another distinction, which will
clear his meaning in it.
1st, You must distinguish of prayers. Some are absolute
and peremptory; and so to have prayed that the cup might pass, would have
been chargeable with such absurdities, as were but now mentioned: others are
conditional and submissive prayers, "If it may be, if the Lord please." And
such was this, If you be willing; if not, I will drink it. But you will say,
Christ knew what was the mind of God in that case; he knew what transactions
had of old been between his Father and him; and therefore though he did not
pray absolutely, yet it is strange he would pray conditionally it might
pass. Therefore in the
2d Place, you must distinguish of the natures according
to which Christ acted. He acted sometimes as God, and sometimes as man. Here
he acted according to his human nature; simply expressing and manifesting in
this request the reluctance it had at such sufferings, wherein he showed
himself a true man, in shunning that which is destructive to his nature.
As Christ had two distinct natures so two distinct wills.
And (as one well observes) in the life of Christ, there was an intermixture
of power and weakness, of the divine glory, and human frailty. At his birth
a star shone, but he was laid in a manger. The devil tempted him in the
wilderness, but there angels ministered to him. As man he was deceived in
the fig-tree, but as God he blasted it. He was caught by the soldiers in the
garden, but first made them fall back. So here, as man he feared and shunned
death; but as God-man he willingly submitted to it.
"It was (as Deodatus well expresses it) a purely natural
desire, mere man, by which for a short moment he apprehended and shunned
death and torments; but quickly recalled himself to obedience, by a
deliberate will, to submit himself to God. And besides that, this desire was
but conditional, under the will of God, accepted by Christ; but from the
contemplation of which he was a while diverted by the extremity of horrors;
therefore there was no sin in it, but only a short conflict of nature,
presently overcome by reason, and a firm will: or a small suspension,
quickly overcome by a most strong resolution. Finally, this sacred
deliberation in Jesus was not made simply, or in an instant, but with a
short time, and with a counterpoise, which is the natural property of the
soul in its motions, and voluntary actions."
In a word, as there was nothing of sin in it, it being a
pure and sinless affection of nature; so there was much good in it, and that
both as it was a part of his satisfaction for our sin, to suffer inwardly
such fears, tremblings, and consternation: and as it was a clear evidence,
that he was in all things made like unto his brethren, except sin. And
lastly, as it serves notably to express the grievousness and extremity of
Christ's sufferings, whose very prospect and appearance, at some distance,
was so dreadful to him.
If the learned reader desire to see what is further said
on this point, let him read what the judicious and learned Parker, in his
excellent book "de descensu", has collected upon that case.
Fourthly, Let us consider the manner how he prayed, and
that was,
1. Solitarily, He does not here pray in the audience of
his disciples, as he had done before, but went at a distance from them. He
had now private business to transact with God. He left some of them at the
entering into the garden; and for Peter, James, and John, that went farther
with him than the rest, he bids them remain there, while he went and prayed.
He did not desire them to pray with him, or for him; no, he must tread the
winepress alone. Nor will he have them with him, possibly lest it should
discourage them to see and hear how he groaned, sweat, trembled, and cried,
as one in an agony, to his Father.
Reader, there are times and cases, when a Christian would
not be willing, that the dearest and most intimate friend he has in the
world, should be privy to what passes between him and his God.
2. It was an humble prayer; that is evident by the
postures into which he cast himself; sometimes kneeling, and sometimes
prostrate upon his face. He creeps in the very dust, lower he cannot fall;
and his heart was as low as his body. He is meek and lowly indeed.
3. It was a reiterated prayer; he prays, and then returns
to the disciples, as a man in extremity turns every way for comfort: so
Christ prays, "Father, let this cup pass," but in that the Father hears him
not; though as to support he was heard. Being denied deliverance by his
Father, he goes and bemoans himself to his pensive friends, and complains
bitterly to them, "my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death." He would
ease himself a little, by opening his condition to them; but alas, they
rather in crease than ease his burden. For he finds them asleep, which
occasioned that gentle reprehension from him, Mat. 26:40. "What, could you
not watch with me one hour?" What, not watch with me? Who may expect it from
you more than I? Could you not watch? I am going to die for you, and cannot
you watch with me? What! cannot you watch with me one hour? Alas! what if I
had required great matters from you? What: not an hour, and that the parting
hour too! Christ finds no ease from them, and back again he goes to that sad
place, which he had stained and purpled with a bloody sweat, and prays to
the same purpose again. O how he returns upon God over and over, as if he
resolved to take no denial! But, however, considering it must be so, he
sweetly falls in with his Father's will, Your will be done.
4. And lastly, It was a prayer accompanied with a strange
and wonderful agony: so says 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, "trumboi
haimator", clodders of blood falling upon the ground. It is disputed whether
this sweat was natural or preternatural. That some in extremity have sweat
kind of bloody thin dew, is affirmed. I remember Thuanus gives us two
instances that come nearest to this, of anything I ever observed or heard
of. "The one was a captain, who by a cowardly 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 by
Sixtus 5 who poured out tears of blood from his eyes, and sweat blood from
his whole body."
These are rare and strange instances, and the truth of
them depends upon the credit of the relator; but certainly for Christ whose
body had the most excellent crests 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 18:18. I say, for
him to sweat such streams through his garments, falling to the ground on
which he lay, must be concluded 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
(says the prophet Nahum, chapter 1:6.) 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. 26:38. "The
word signifies beset with grief round about." And it is well expressed by
that phrase of the psalmist, "The sorrows of death compassed me about, the
pains of hell got hold upon me." Mark varies the expression, and gives it us
in another word no less significant and full, Mark 14:33. "He began to be
sore amazed and very heavy," "Sore amazed, it imports so high a degree of
consternation and amazement, as when the hair of the head stands up through
fear." Luke has another expression, for it in the text; he was "en agonia",
in an agony. An agony is the laboring and striving of nature in extremity.
And John gives it us in another expression, John 12:27. "Now is my 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 immediately with him. And you
know "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." 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 there to apprehend him. O! when we are near to
danger it is good for us to draw near to our God. Then should we be urging
that seasonable request to God, Psalm. 22:11. "Be not far from me, for
trouble is near; for there is none to help." We 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 disburdened 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
accustomed to call prayers the leeches of his cares and sorrows; they suck
out the bad blood. It is the title of Psalm. 102, A prayer for the
afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours 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 32:19. "Behold,
Lord, my heart is as wine which has no vent, it is ready to burst as new
bottles. I will speak that I may be refreshed."
To go to God when you are full of sorrow, when your heart
is ready to burst within you, as it was with Christ in this day of his
trouble; and say, Father, thus and thus the case stands with your poor
child; and so and so it is with me; I will not go up and down complaining
from one creature to another, it is to no purpose to do so; nor yet will I
leave my complaint upon myself: but I will tell you, Father, how the case
stands with me; for to whom should children make their moan, but to their
Father? Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me. What thinkest you, reader,
of this? Is it relieving to a sad soul? Yes, yes; if you be a Christian that
have had any experience this way, you will say there is nothing like it; you
will bless God for appointing such an ordinance as prayer, and say, Blessed
be God for prayer: I know not what I should have done, nor how in all the
world I should have waded through the troubles I have passed, if it had not
been for the help of prayer.
INFERENCE. 2. Did Christ withdraw from the disciples to
seek God by prayer? Thence it follows, That the company of the best men is
not always seasonable. Peter, James, and John, were three excellent men, and
yet Christ says to them, Tarry you here, while I go and pray yonder. The
society of men is beautiful in its season, and no better than a burden out
of season. I have read of a good man, that when his stated time for
closet-prayer was come, he would say to the company that were with him,
whatever they were, Friends, I must beg your excuse for a while, there is a
friend waits to speak with me. The company of a good man is good, but it
ceases to be so, when it hinders the enjoyment of better company. One hour
with God is to be preferred to a thousand days enjoyment of the best men on
earth. If your dearest friends in the world intrude unseasonably between you
and your God, it is neither crude nor unmannerly to bid them give place to
better company; I mean, to withdraw from them, as Christ did from the
disciples, to enjoy an hour with God alone. In public and private duties we
may admit of the company of others to join with us; and if they be such as
fear God, the more the better: but in secret duties, Christ and you must
whisper it over between yourselves; and then the company of the wife of your
bosom, or your friend, that is as your own soul, would not be welcome. "When
you prayest, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray
to your Father which is in secret," Mat. 6:6. It is as much as if Christ had
said, See all clear; be sure to retire in as great privacy as may be; let no
ear but God's hear what you have to say to him. This is at once a good note
of sincerity, and a great help to spiritual liberty and freedom with God.
INFERENCE. 3. Did Christ go to God thrice upon the same
account? Thence learn, that Christians should not be discouraged, though
they have sought God once and again, and no answer of peace comes. Christ
was not heard the first time, and he goes a second: he was not answered the
second, he goes the third and last time, yet was not answered in the thing
he desired, namely, that the cup might pass from him; and yet he has no hard
thoughts of God, but resolves his will into his Father's. If God deny you in
the things you ask, he deals no otherwise with you than he did with Christ.
"O my God (says he) I cry in the day-time, but you hear not; and in the
night, and am not silent." Yet he justifies God, "but you are holy," Psalm.
22:2. Christ was not heard in the thing he desired, and yet heard in that he
feared, Heb. 5:7.
The cup did not pass as he desired, but God upheld him,
and enabled him to drink it. He was heard as to support, he was not heard as
to exemption from suffering: his will was expressed conditionally; and
therefore though he had not the thing he so desired, yet his will was not
crossed by the denial. But now, when we have a suit depending before the
throne of grace, and cry to God once and again, and no answer comes; how do
your hands hang down, and your spirits wax feeble!
Then we complain with the church, Lam. 3:8. "When I cry
and shout, he shuts out my prayers; you coverest yourself with a cloud, that
our prayers cannot pass through." Then, with Jonah we conclude "we are cast
out of his sight." Alas! we judge by sense according to what we see and
feel; and cannot live by faith on God, when he seems to hide himself, put us
off, and refuse our requests. It calls for an Abraham's faith, to "believe
against hope, giving glory to God." If we cry, and no answer comes
presently, our carnal reason draws a headlong hasty conclusion. Sure I must
expect no answer: God is angry with my prayers: The seed of prayer has lain
so long under the clods, and it appears not; surely it is lost, I shall hear
no more of it.
Our prayers may be heard, though their answer be for the
present suspended. As David acknowledged, when he coolly considered the
matter, Psalm. 31:22. "I said in my haste, I am cut off from before your
eyes; nevertheless you heardest the voice of my supplication, when I cried
unto you." No, no, Christian; a prayer sent up in faith, according to the
will of God, cannot be lost, though it be delayed. We may say of it as David
said of Saul's sword, and Jonathan's bow, that they never returned empty.
INFERENCE. 4. Was Christ so earnest in prayer, that he
prayed himself into every agony? Let the people of God blush to think how
unlike their spirits are to Christ, as to their prayers-frames!
O what lively, sensible, quick, deep, and tender
apprehensions and sense of those things about which he prayed, had Christ?
Though he saw his very blood starting out from his hands, and his clothes
died in it: yet being in an agony, he prayed the more earnestly. I do not
say Christ is imitable in this; no, but his fervor in prayer is a pattern
for us, and serves severely to rebuke the laziness, dullness, torpor,
formality, and stupidity, that are in our prayers. How often do we bring the
sacrifice of the dead before the Lord! how often do our lips move, and our
hearts stand still! O how unlike Christ are we! his prayers were pleading
prayers! full of mighty arguments and fervent affections. O that his people
were in this more like him!
INFERENCE. 5. Was Christ in such an agony before any hand
of man was upon him, merely from the apprehensions of the wrath of God, with
which he now contested? "Then surely it is a dreadful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God; for our God is a consuming fire."
Ah, what is divine wrath, that Christ staggered when the
cup came to him! Could not he bear, and do you think to bear it? Did Christ
sweat clots of blood at it, and do you make light of it? Poor wretch, if it
staggered him, it will confound you. If it made him groan, it will make you
howl, and that eternally. Come, sinner, come; do you make light of the
threatening of the wrath of God against sin? Do you think there is no such
matter in it, as these zealous preachers make of it? Come look here upon my
text, which shows you the face of the Son of God standing as full of purple
drops under the sense and apprehension of it, as the drops of dew that hang
upon the grass. Mark how he cries, "Father if it be possible, let this cup
pass." O anything of punishment rather than this. Hear what he tells the
disciples; "My soul, (says he,) is sorrowful even to death: amazed, and very
heavy." Fools make a mock at sin, and the threatening that lie against it.
INFERENCE. 6. Did Christ meet death with such a heavy
heart? Let the hearts of Christians be the lighter for this, when they come
to die. The bitterness of death was all squeezed into Christ's cup. He was
made to drink up the very dregs of it, that so our death might be the
sweeter to us. Alas! there is nothing now left in death that is frightful or
troublesome, beside the pain of dissolution, that natural evil of it. I
remember it is storied of one of the martyrs, that being observed to be
exceeding jocund and merry when he came to the stake, one asked him, What
was the reason his heart was so light, when death, (and that in such a
terrible form too) was before him? O said he, my heart is so light at my
death, because Christ's was so heavy at his death.
INFERENCE. 7. To conclude, what cause have all the saints
to love their dear Lord Jesus with an abounding love? Christian, open the
eyes of your faith, and fix them upon Christ, in the posture he lay in the
garden, drenched in his own blood; and see whether he be not lovely in these
his dyed garments. He that suffered for us more than any creature could or
did, may well challenge more love than all the creatures in the world. O
what has he suffered, and suffered upon your account! it was your pride,
earthliness, sensuality, unbelief; hardness of heart, that laid on more
weight in that day that he sweat blood.