40. Although by His words, Thy will be done, He surrendered the Apostles to the decision of His Father’s will, in regard to the offence of the cup, that is, of His Passion, still He repeated His prayer a second and a third time. After that He said, Sleep on now, and take your rest651    St. Matt. xxvi. 45.. It is not without the consciousness of some secret reason that He Who had reproached them for their sleep, now bade them sleep on, and take their rest. Luke is thought to have given us the meaning of this command. After He had told us how Satan had sought to sift the Apostles as it were wheat, and how the Lord had been entreated that the faith of Peter might not fail652    This is a mistranslation of St. Luke xxii. 32, ἐδεήθην being taken as passive., he adds that the Lord prayed earnestly, and then that an angel stood by Him comforting Him, and as the angel stood by Him, He prayed the more earnestly, so that the sweat poured from His body in drops of blood653    St. Luke xxii. 43, 44. The Greek is ὥσει, ‘as it were drops of blood.’. The Angel was sent, then, to watch over the Apostles, and when the Lord was comforted by him, so that He no longer sorrowed for them, He said, without fear of sadness, Sleep on now, and take your rest. Matthew and Mark are silent about the angel, and the request of the devil: but after the sorrowfulness of His soul, the reproach of the sleepers, and the prayer that the cup may be taken away, there must be some good reason for the command to the sleepers which follows; unless we assume that He Who was about to leave them, and Himself had received comfort from the Angel sent to Him, meant to abandon them to their sleep, soon to be arrested and kept in durance.

40. Cur apostolos dormire jam sinat.---Et quamquam in eo quod ait: Fiat voluntas tua, in calicis, id est, passionis suae scandalo, apostolos permittens paternae voluntatis 349 arbitrio; tamen etiam repetitae tertio orationis prece usus est: postquam ait: Dormite 0374C jam, et requiescite (Ibid. 45). Non enim extra rationis alicujus internae conscientiam, qui antea eos dormientes coarguisset, nunc jam dormire et requiescere jubet. Sed intelligentiam nobis Lucas adhortationis istius tribuisse existimatur: qui cum dixisset, satanam expetisse ut apostolos modo tritici cerneret, et Dominum pro fide Petri, ne deficeret, oratum fuisse; subjecit post multam Domini precem 0375A angelum adstitisse confortantem eum; quo assistente orare prolixius coeperit, ita ut guttis sanguinum corporis sudor efflueret (Luc. XXII, 43 et 44) Misso enim ad tuitionem apostolorum angelo, et per eum confortato Domino, ne pro his tristis esset, jam sine tristitiae metu ait: Dormite jam, et requiescite. De angelo quidem Matthaeus et Marcus et de expetitione diaboli nihil locuti sunt: sed post tristitiam animae, post dormientium objurgationem, post transferendi calicis deprecationem, non ex nihilo dormientium adhortatio subsecuta est, nisi quod cum afuturus ab his esset, et indulti Angeli confortatus auxilio, securitate custodiae custodiendos permittebat in somnum.