"And" Jesus "said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." We have already seen how he expostulated with his disciples on their drowsiness, and exhorted them to watchfulness and prayer; and the outline of the history is plain, though it does not appear quite certain with what part of the account by the other evangelists this clause corresponds in point of time. Aceording to them, our Lord said to the disciples, when he found them asleep the third time, "Sleep on now, and take your rest." Some think that saying should be rendered interrogatively, so as to correspond with the question in Luke, "Why sleep ye?" But, taking it as it is in our version, it is probably to be understood ironically, as if he had said, "All I could say to keep you awake has been in vain; the need for such an exhortation is now at an end, and I urge you not to watch any longer. Sleep on now, and take your rest, if you can, and if you dare. You will now be roused by other means." This view is confirmed by what immediately follows in Matthew: "Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.'

The doctrinal and practical lessons in the minor points of this history having been already noticed, it only remains to consider seriously the chief cause of our Saviour's agony in the garden, and the more direct inferences from it. As to its cause, everything like the feeling of a guilty conscience, evil passion, and the fear of failure, must be entirely excluded from our ideas. Some circumstances may have contributed, in some degree, to his agony, which, however, are by no means altogether sufficient to account for it. For example, he may have been assaulted by Satan; but he had been subjected to that before, without manifesting any such perturbation. The foresight, too, of his cruel death may justly be considered as one of the ingredients in his agony. But, if this was all, he showed less strength of mind than many of his followers who were not moved by such terror, but went cheerfully and joyfully forward, and triumphed in the midst of cruelties and martyrdom. What then could lead him to say, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death"-"O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me?" What threw him into such an agony, that "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground?" There must have been some ingredient in his cup, which was not in theirs. There must have been

some cause operating in his case, and not in theirs. And what could that have been but the pressure of divine wrath ?* Already, that hiding of his Father's countenance had begun, which made him exclaim on the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The hand of God lay heavy on his soul. "It pleased the Lord to bruise him, and to put him to grief."

From this, we infer the truth of the doctrine of the atonement. Suffering, in any degree, is the consequence of guilt. It is true that we see many of the best of men in trouble; but no mere man is absolutely sinless, and it is agreeable both to reason and Scripture that no completely innocent person should suffer. Now, here we find Jesus suffering; but where was his sin? "He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." There is no way of reconciling these two facts of his personal sinlessness and his suffering, but on the supposition that "he was made sin for us." "The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." This must have been the case, in order to his suffering at all. But, when we consider the dreadful and unparalleled nature of his sufferings, and the amazing way in which his agony was expressed, this truth becomes still more manifest. Here we have a perfectly holy person subjected to the heaviest sorrow-a person of the highest dignity and the strongest mind moved and speaking in a way to which his feeble disciples were superior. We repeat it the martyrs underwent the most shocking tortures, not only with patience, but with joy. None of these things moved them." Scourges, wild beasts, swords, crosses and flames, they beheld and endured without dismay. They did not shrink back; but they went forward to suffering, as to happiness and triumph, and they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. Surely, he was not more timid than they. There must have been something pressing on him from which they were free-and that was just the punishment of sin. The martyrs were numbered with the righteous; but Jesus" was numbered with the transgressors." The martyrs enjoyed the comforting presence of God; but Jesus felt no consolation. In a word, the martyrs suffered only from the hands of men; but Jesus was "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted."- "He bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

It is surprising that some commentators question this, who profess to hold the doctrine of the atonement.

Hence, too, we may infer the evil of sin. The Lord is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot look on it but with abhorrence. Nothing is so opposite to his nature. It is the abominable thing which he hates. His displeasure against it has been manifested in many striking ways. On account of sin, he banished the rebellious angels from heaven, who are reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day. On account of sin, he drove man out of paradise, sent death into the world and all our woes, overwhelmed the old world by the deluge, destroyed with fire and brimstone the cities of the plain, and scattered his chosen nation, and made them a hissing and a proverb among men. Terrible, however, as these examples are, they are nothing to that which is exhibited in the sufferings of the Son of God for sin imputed. That the wicked themselves should suffer was not so very surprising; but, that the immaculate and divine Redeemer should suffer, was wonderful indeed. No more convincing proof of the evil of sin could possibly be given than this, rather than that it should pass unpunished, God's eternal Son was brought to agony, and, at last, to the dust of death. When the infinite dignity and spotless innocence of the Saviour are considered, his agony, as one great part of his expiatory sufferings, gives a more striking display of "the exceeding sinfulness of sin," than would have been given though the whole fallen race of man had been doomed to endless ruin. You, then, who make a mock at sin, who talk lightly of it, and who tremble not at its consequences, reflect on the sorrows of the Redeemer; accompany him, in thought, to the garden of Gethsemane; consider his mournful cries, his supplications, his tears, his agony, and his bloody sweat, and then say whether sin be not an evil thing and a bitter. If even Christ was so beset with amazement and horror, with what agonies shall the finally impenitent sinner be overwhelmed, when he shall sink under the punishment of his own iniquity, and when God shall pour upon him all the fierceness of his wrath!

But, blessed be God! we may also hence infer that a solid ground of hope is laid for guilty sinners to trust in the mercy of God through the Saviour. A cheerful hope hence dawns on the trembling soul. See here, not only the evil of sin, but the ground of forgiveness. He suffered for sinners, the just for the unjust, to bring them to God. You are all encouraged to come to him by the assurance of a

welcome. Come to him, believing in his name, and trusting in his righteousness. Come to him in penitential prayer. If he made supplication with strong crying and tears, when he suffered for your sins, will you refuse to grieve for your own, and to implore deliverance from your own?

Finally, What a call for gratitude, and what a source of consolation are here for you who love the Saviour's name! To you this theme is most affecting and delightful. Your hearts are, at times, ready to fail for tenderness, when you think of this scene. Will you not supremely love and gladly praise Him who was thus agonized for you? Well, too, may the remembrance of this part of your Saviour's history console you amid the trials of life, and the pangs of dissolution. As certainly as he sorrowed under the wrath of God, so certainly shall you escape that wrath, and be happy for ever. As certainly as the cup did not pass from him, so certainly it shall pass from you. Let this hope cheer you on to live to his glory, and to die to be with him. It is recorded that a certain Christian requested his friend to put him in mind of his Saviour's bloody sweat when he should come to be in the agonies of death. This his friend accordingly did, on which the dying believer cheerfully fell asleep in Christ.* So, when the cold sweat which betokens death shall bedew your bodies, the thought of your Redeemer's sufferings shall cheer your departing spirits. Then shall you see him in the paradise of God, in a very different condition from that in which he was in the garden of Gethsemane; for, he has exchanged his prostrate position for the throne of glory, and the exceeding sorrow of his agony for the pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore. Lord, grant that where he is, there we may be also. Amen.

* Gerhardi Harm, pars i.

LECTURE CXXI.

LUKE XXII. 47-53.

"And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. 48. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? 49. When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? 50. And one of them smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. 51. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him. 52. Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? 53. When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness."

IN the last lecture, we took a view of the affecting subject of our Lord's agony in the garden. We now proceed to consider its immediate sequel his being betrayed by Judas, and apprehended by his combined enemies. Here we shall have frequent occasion to consult the other evangelists, by whom several additional particulars of this part of the sacred history are related.

“And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him." You will remember that twice, on his finding the disciples asleep in the garden, Christ exhorted them to watch and pray; but that when he returned the third time, and found them sleeping, he said, according to Matthew, "Sleep on now, and take your rest; behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me." While he was thus speaking, a multitude of his enemies approached. Let us consider the parties of whom the crowd consisted. First of all-and how shocking!-there was Judas, one of the apostles. We formerly noticed his temptation by Satan; his ready yielding to that temptation; the joint workings of treachery and covetousness in his heart; his