till all Gods waves and billows had gone over him. To be in extremity of pain, and that without a moments intermission, will quickly pull down the stoutest nature in the world.
Fourthly, And lastly, as his pains were sharp, universal, and continual; so they were altogether unrelieved by his understand∣ing part. If a man have sweet comforts flowing into his soul from God, they will sweetly demulce and allay the pains of the body. This made the Martyrs shout amidst the flames. Yea even inferiour comforts and delights of the mind will greatly relieve the oppressed body.
It's said of Possidonius that in a great fit of the Stone he sol••ced himself, with discourses of moral vertue, and when the pain twinged him, he would say, O pain, thou dost nothing, though thou art a little troublesom, I will never confess thee to be evil. And Epicurus in the fits of the Colick refreshed himself ob memo∣riam inventorem, (i. e.) by his invention in Philosophy.
But now Christ had no relief this way in the least. Not a drop of comfort came from heaven into his soul to relieve it, and the body by it. But on the contrary his soul was filled up with grief, and had an heavier burden of its own to bear than that of the body. So that instead of relieving, it increased unspeakably the burden of his outward man. For
Secondly, Let us consider these inward sufferings of his soul, [ 2] how great they were, and how quickly spent his natural strength, and turned his moisture into the drought of Summer. And
First, His soul felt the wrath of an angry God, which was ter∣ribly imprest upon it. The wrath of a King is as the roaring of a Lion, but what is that to the wrath of a Deity? See what a descrip∣tion is given of it in Nahum. 1.16. Who can stand before his indig∣nation? 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. Had not the strength that supported Christ been greater than that of Rocks, this wrath had certainly overwhelmed, and ground him to powder.
Secondly, As it was the wrath of God that lay upon his soul, so it was the pure wrath of God, without any allay or mixture. Not one drop of comfort came from heaven or earth. All the ingredi∣ents in his cup were bitter ones. There was wrath without mercy; yea, wrath without the least degree of sparing mercy; for God spared not his own Son, Rom. 8.32. Had Christ been abated or spared, we had not. If our mercies must be pure mer∣cies,