and forrowful parting they must have; the shepherd is to be fmitten that night, and the sheep to be scattered; and as he forefaw Judas's treachery, fo he forefees Peter's infirmity: the ftorm fhould be fo violent, that Peter himfelf, the refolute apoftle, fhall deny his Mafter that night, and deny him thrice: and furely the forefight of the diftraction that fhould befal his poor difciples, could not choose but add much to their tender Master's affliction, Matth. xxvi. 31. "All ye fhall be offended because of

me this night."

And now let us follow our bleffed Lord from the mount of Olives, into the garden, called by the apostles Gethfemane, with the affections of love and wonder in fome measure becoming fuch an entertainment of our thoughts. The time that he chose for his retirement, was the dead time of the night; a season that might the more contribute to the ftrength of that fadnefs, which the pre-apprehenfion of his imminent paffion muft needs occafion. The place that he chofe, a folitary retired garden, where nothing might or could interrupt or divert the intenfivenefs of his forrow and fear; and to make both the time and place the more opportune for his agony, he leaves the reft of his difciples, and takes with him only Peter, and the two fons of Zebedee, Matth. xxvi. 37. and to these he imparts the beginning of his forrow, that they might be witnesses of it, Matth. xxvi. 37. " My foul is exceeding "forrowful, even unto death;" but yet commands their distance, ver. 38. "Tarry ye here, and watch with "me; and he went a little further. Watch with me:" the confufion of his foul was fo great, that the only Son of God diftrufts his own human ability to bear it'; and yet his fubmiffion to this terrible conflict was fo willing, that he leaves them that he had appointed to watch with him. "He went a little further:" the three difciples had doubtless a fympathy with their Master's forrow, and yet the will of God fo orders it, that their excefs of love and grief muft not keep their eyes waking, notwithstanding it was the last request of their forrowful Mafter. "The

difciples flept," Matth. xxvi. 40. And thus every cir cumftance of time, place, and perfons, contributes to a fad and folitary opportunity for this most terrible and black conflict. And now in this garden the mighty God

puts

puts his Son to grief, lades him with our forrows, Ifa. liii. 4. withdraws and hides from him the light of his favour and countenance; interpofeth a thick and black cloud between the divinity and the human nature, darts into his foul the fad and fharp manifeftations of his wrath; overwhelms his foul with one wave after another; fends into him the most exquifite pre-apprehenfions of those fad and fevere fufferings he was the next day to undergo, begins to make his foul an offering for fin, and heightens his forrow, confufion, and astonishment, unto the uttermoft: in fum, the mighty God, the God of the fpirits of all flefh, who knows the way into the foul, and how to fill it with the most fad and black astonishment and forrow, was pleafed at this time to estrange and eclipse the manifestation of his light and love to his only Son, as far as was poffibly confident with his fecret and eternal love unto him, to throw into him as fad and amazing apprehenfions of his wrath, as was poffible to be confiftent with the human nature to bear; to fortify and ftrengthen his fenfe of it, and forrow for, and under it, unto the uttermost, that so his grief and forrow, and confufion of foul might be brim-full, and as much as the exactest conftitution of a human nature could poffibly bear. And thus now, at this time, the arm of the mighty God was bruifing the foul of his only Son, Ifa. liii. 16. And certainly the extremity of this agony within, muft needs be very great, if we confider the strange effects it had without. 1. That pathetical defcription that our Saviour himself makes of it," My foul is exceeding forrowful, e"ven unto death," Matth. xxvi. 37. fo forrowful, exceeding forrowful, forrowful unto death; and the expreffions of the evangelifts, Mat. xxvi. 37. He began to be "forrowful, and very heavy.' Mark. xiv. 33. "He

66

began to be fore amazed, and to be very heavy." It was fuch a forrow as brought with it an amazement, an aftonishment. 2. Again, that strange request to his dif ciples, "Tarry ye, and watch with me:" as if he feared the forrow would overwhelm him. 3. Again, his prayer, and the manner of it, evidence a most wonderful turbation within, Matth. xxvi. 39. "He fell on his face "and prayed:" and what was the thing he prayed? "Father, if it be poffible, let this cup pafs from me;" or as Mark xiv. 36. "Abba, Father, all things are pof

per

"fible unto thee, take away this cup from me," &c, Altho' that this was the very end for which he came into the world: the cup which in former times he reached after, and was straitned till it were fulfilled; yet such a representation there is thereof to his foul, that altho' in the will of his obedience he fubmits; "Not my will, but thine "be done :" yet his nature fhrinks and starts at it; and he engageth almighty God as much, and upon as great arguments as was poffible, to decline the feverity of that wrath which he was now to grapple with. 1. Upon the account of his omnipotency; "All things are poffible, δε to thee. 2. Upon the account of his relation, "Ab"ba, Father. It is not a stranger that importunes thee; "it is thy Son; that Son in whom thou didst proclaim thyfelf well-pleased; that Son, whom thou heareft always; it is he that begs of thee, and begs of thee a difpenfation from that which he most declines, because "he most loves thee, the terrible, unfupportable, hiding thy face from me." And this was not one fingle requeft, but thrice repeated, reiterated, and that with more earneftnefs, Mark xiv. 39. "And again he went away and prayed, and fpake the fame words." Luke xxii. 44. "And being in an agony, he prayed more ear"neftly." Certainly that impreffion upon his foul, that caufed him to deprecate that for which he was born, to deprecate it so often, fo earnestly, muft needs be a forrow and apprehenfion of a very terrible and exceeding extremity. 4. Such was the weight of his forrow, and confufion of his foul, that it even exceeded the ftrength of his human nature to bear it, it was ready to diffolve the union between his body and foul; infomuch, that to add farther ftrength unto him, and capacity to undergo the measure of it, an angel from heaven is fent, not merely to comfort, but to strengthen him; to add a farther degree of ftrength to his human nature, to bear the weight of that wrath which had in good earnest made his foul forrowful unto death, had it not been strengthened by the ministration of an angel, Luke xxii. 43. And this af fitance of the angel, as it did not allay the forrow of his foul, fo neither did it intermit his importunity to be delivered from the thing he felt and feared; but did only fupport and strengthen him to bear a greater burthen of

44.

it; and as the measure of his ftrength was increased, fo was the burthen which he muft undergo, increased; for after this he prayed again more earneítly the third time, Luke xxii. 43. The fupply of his ftrength was fucceeded with an addition of forrow, and the increase of his forrow was followed with the greater importunity; "He prayed more earnestly," Heb. v. 7. "With ftrong crying and "tears." Luke xxiii. "And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his fweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." This was his third address to his Father, Matth. xxvi. 44. And here was the highest pitch of our Saviour's paffion in the garden; his foul was in an agony, in the greateft concuffion, confufion, and extremity of forrow, fear, anguish and aftonishment, that was poffible to be inflicted by the mighty hand of God, on the foul of Chrift, that could be confiftent with the purity of the nature of our Saviour, and the infeparable union that it had with the divine nature; infomuch, that the confufion and distraction of his foul under it, and the ftruggling and grappling of his foul with it, did make fuch an impreffion upon his body, that the like was never before or fince. The fcafon of the year was cold, for fo it appears, John xviii. 8. The fervants and officers had made a fire of coals, for it was cold; and the feafon of the time was cold; it was, as near as we may guefs, about mid-night, when the fun was at his greatest distance, and obftructed in his influence by the interpofition of the earth; for it appears they came with lanthorns and torches when they apprehended him, John xviii. 3. And he was brought to the high-priest's hall, a little before cock-crowing, after fome time had been spent in his examination, Matth. xxvi. 69. And yet for all this, fuch is the agony and perturbation of our Saviour's foul, that in this cold season it puts his body in a sweat, a sweat of blood, great drops of blood, drops of blood falling down to the ground; and certainly it was no light conflict within, that caused fuch a ftrange and unheard of fymptom without. Certainly the ftorm in the foul of Christ must needs be very terrible, that his blood, the feat of his vital fpirits, could no longer abide the fenfe of it, but started out in a sweat of blood, and fuch a sweat that was more than confiftent

And

with the ordinary conftitution of human nature. during this time, even from the eating of the paffover until this third address to his Father was over, the suffering of our Saviour lay principally, if not only, in his foul. Almighty God was wounding of his fpirit, and making his foul an offering for fin; and tho' the distinct and clear manner of this bruising of our Saviour's foul cannot be apprehended by us, yet furely thus much we may conclude concerning it. 1. "He was made fin for us, "that knew no fin," 2 Cor. v. 21. He stood under the imputation of all our fins; and tho' he were personally innocent, yet judicially, and by way of interpretation, he was the greatest offender that ever was; for "the "Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all," Ifa. liii, 6. 2. And confequently he was under the imputation of all the guilt of those fins, and ftands, in relation unto God the righteous Judge, under the fame obligation to whatfoever punishment the very persons of the offenders were, unto the uttermost of that confiftency that it had with the unfeparable union unto the Father: and this obligation unto the punishment could not chufe but work the fame effects in our Saviour, as it must do in the finner (desperation and fin excepted) to wit, a fad apprehenfion of the wrath of God against him. The purity and juftice of God, which hath nothing that it hates but fin, muit purfue fin where ever it finds it. And as when it finds fin per. fonally in any man, the wrath of God will abide there fo long as fin abides; fo when it finds the same fin affumed by our Lord, and bound as it were to him, as the wood was to Ifaac when he was laid upon the altar, the wrath of God could not chufe but be apprehended as incunbent upon him, till that fin that by imputation lay upon him was discharged. For as our Lord was pleased to be our representative in bearing our fins, and to stand in our ftead: fo all thefe affections and motions of his foul did bear the fame conformity, as if acted by us: as he put on the person of the finner, so he puts on the fame forrow, the fame fhame, the fame fear, the fame trembling, under the apprehenfions of the wrath of his Father, that we must have done and fo as an imputed fin drew with it the obligation unto punishment; fo it did, by neceffary confequence, raise all thofe confufions and forms in the

foul