Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/182

 those who  persevere  in  prayer. Imagine what  reasons the angel  might  use  in  comforting  your  agonizing  Saviour. He probably  represented  to  Him  the  necessity  of His  passion  for  the  redemption  of  mankind,  and  the glory that  would  redound  to  His  Father  and  Himself. All this  Christ  understood  infinitely  better  than  the  angel, yet  He  did  not  refuse  the  proffer  of  consolation,  in order  to  teach  you  to  respect  the  advice  and  consolation of your  inferiors.

II. " His  sweat  became  as  drops  of  blood,  trickling down  upon  the  ground." Imagine you  see  it  gush  from every pore  of  His  sacred  body,  and  beg  of  Him  to  bathe your soul  in  it. Detest your  tepidity  and  coldness  in prayer,  and  your  barrenness  in  devotion. Ponder the causes of  so  preternatural  an  effect,  I.  The  clear  apprehension of  all  His  future  torments,  as  if  they  were  present. 2. His  perfect  foreknowledge  of  the  sins  that  would be committed,  and  of  the  general  ingratitude  of  mankind, for  whom  He  was  on  the  point  of  suffering  so  much and so  ineffectually. Condole with  your  Saviour,  and grieve that  you  yourself  have  been  so  great  a  cause  of His  pain  and  sufferings.

III. "And being  in  an  agony,  He  prayed  the  longer." From this  you  ought  to  learn,  that  in  proportion  as afflictions  increase,  so  ought  you  to  redouble  your  exertions in  prayer. Christ might  have  prevented  His  agony or this  conflict  between  the  spirit  and  flesh  if  He  had pleased; but  He  underwent  it  in  order  to  show  us  how we ought  to  resist  and  conquer  our  passions. Reflect how easily  you  suffer  yourself  to  be  overcome  by  your evil propensities,  and  transgress  your  good  resolutions. When temptation  presses,  you  ought  "  to  expect  the Lord,  to  do  manfully,  and  to  let  your  heart  take  courage, and  wait  for  the  Lord." (Ps. xxvi.  14.)