You see one vein opened, but in his second effusion not one, but all the veins in his body fell a bleeding at once, and this was at his passion in the garden, when (as the Evangelist testifies) he fell into an agony, and his sweat was like drops of blood, trickling down to the ground: here is a physic-purgative indeed,1 when all his body evacuates sweat like drops of blood: but what? be the pleurisy never so great, how strange is the phlebotomy? it seems not to consult where the sign lies, you see all his body falls at once to sweating and bleeding, not is the cure less strange then the physic; for we had surfeited, and it is he that purgeth; we had the fever, and it is he that sweats and bleeds for the recovery of our health; did you ever hear of such a remedy as this? oft-times a bleeding in the head (say Physicians) is best stop by striking a vein in the foot; but here the malady is in the foot, and the remedy in the head; we (silly wretches) lay sick of sin, and Christ our Saviour purgeth it out by a sweat like drops of blood trickling down to the ground: here is a wonder, no violence is offered, no labour is sustained, he is abroad too in the raw air, and laid down grovelling on the cooler earth, or if all this be not enough to keep him from sweating, the night is cold (so cold that hardier soldiers were fain to have a fire within doors) and yet notwithstanding all this, he sweats saith the Text: how sweats? it is not sudor diaphoreticus, a thin faint sweat, but grumosus, of great drops, and those so many, so violent, as they pierce not only his skin, but clothes too, trickling down to the ground in great abundance; and yet may all this fall within the compass of a natural possibility. But a sweat of blood puts all reason to silence, yea, saith Hilary, it is again nature to sweat blood, 2and yet (howsoever nature stands aghast) the God of nature goes thus far, that in a cold night (which naturally draws blood inwards) he sweats without heat, and bleeds without a wound. See all his body is besprinkled with a Crimson dew, the very veins and pores, not waiting the tormentors fury, pour out a shower of blood upon the sudden; foul sin that could not be cleansed save only by such a bath! what? must our surfeits be thus sweat out by our Saviour?
You see one vein opened, but in his second effusion not one, but all the veins in his body fell a bleeding at once, and this was at his passion in the garden, when (as the Evangelist testifies) he fell into an agony, and his sweat was like drops of bloud, trickling down to the ground: here is a physick-purgative indeed,1 when all his body evacuates sweat like drops of bloud: but what? be the pleurisie never so great, how strange is the phlebotomy? it seems not to consult where the sign lies, you see all his body fals at once to sweating and bleeding, not is the cure less strange then the physick; for we had surfetted, and it is he that purgeth; we had the fever, and it is he that sweats and bleeds for the recovery of our health; did you ever hear of such a remedy as this? oft-times a bleeding in the head (say Physicians) is best stop by striking a vein in the foot; but here the malady is in the foot, and the remedy in the head; we (silly wretches) lay sick of sin, and Christ our Saviour purgeth it out by a sweat like drops of bloud trickling down to the ground: here is a wonder, no violence is offered, no labour is sustained, he is abroad too in the raw ayr, and laid down groveling on the cooler earth, or if all this be not enough to keep him from sweating, the night is cold (so cold that hardier souldiers were fain to have a fire within doors) and yet notwithstanding all this, he sweats saith the Text: how sweats? it is not sudor diaphoreticus, a thin faint sweat, but grumosus, of great drops, and those so many, so violent, as they pierce not onely his skin, but clothes too, trickling down to the ground in great abundance; and yet may all this fall within the compasse of a naturall possibility. But a sweat of bloud puts all reason to silence, yea, saith Hilary, it is again nature to sweat bloud, 2and yet (howsoever nature stands agast) the God of nature goes thus far, that in a cold night (which naturally draws bloud inwards) he sweats without heat, and bleeds without a wound. See all his body is besprinckled with a Crimson dew, the very veins and pores, not waiting the tormentors fury, pour out a showr of bloud upon the suddain; foul sin that could not be clensed save onely by such a bath! what? must our surfets be thus sweat out by our Saviour?
- 1Luk. 22.44.
- 2Contra naturam est sudare sanguinem. Hillar. l. 10. trinitate.
