Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1895-05-04

ory Verses. Golden Text. John
xviii, fi--Commcnsary BY the Rev. D. M.
stearns.
80. And they came to place which
was named Gethsemane, and He saith 70
His disciples Sit ye here while shall
pray" On their way TO the mount OF
Olives He told them that, according TO the
Scriptures, He would be smitten and
they would forsake Him. He said also
that Peter would deny Him. upon which
Peter and all the Others said that they
would never do such thing oversees "a
TO 31) They then come TO Gethsemane,
which signifies an oil press, suggestive OF
the bruising which He was here to under
go that He might give TO us the amounting
OF the Holy Spirit For the trials OF Geth-
semane special strength was needed, con-
cerning which He must talk with His Fa-
ther, but into this and many other COM
munions His disciples cannot enter, so
He goes alone to pray.
49, And He taketh with Him Peter
and James and John and began to be sore
amazed and TO be very heavy" Matthew
says .'sorrowful and very heavy" IL
could not be anything He did not know
about beforehand, for He knew all things
but the powers of darkness were about 70
do their worst, the great crisis TO which
He had looked forward from eternity was
at hand, and IL might DO said that satan
was about to engage Him in hand TO
hand conflict.
81 And saith unto them, My soul is
exceeding sorrowful unto death. larry
ye here and watch" In Math. XVI, 2S,
it is, Watch with Me. /" His humanity
crayed their sympathy. but how little He
II. fI.a olxv
well as the man of sorrows, and even the
favored three. Of whom the beloved John
was nearest to Him, could not enter into
His experiences. II ever sense OF heavi-
ness and darkness comes over you In your
Christian lie. when you know In your
heart that you desire above all things to
serve tho Lord and do only His will, thiLk
upon lisa. l. 10, and praise God for fellow
ship with His Son Jesus Christ.
80. And He went forward a little and
fell ON the ground and prayed that If IL
were possible the hour might pass from
Him" He seems to have left eight of the
disciples just inside the garden, TO have
taken the three a little farther, and then
to have gone alone about n stones cast
duke xii, All and to have kneeled
down, then fallen upon His face. lie
certainly did not shrink from the cross and
but a careful study of Heb. v, 2, will show
that the agony was so great that He fear
ed lest He might die under 1t and not
reach the cross to finish the great atone.
ment
SO. And He said Abba, Father, all
things are possible unto Thee. Take away
| this cup from me- Nevertheless not what
! l will, but what Thou wilt" We read
elsewhere that He prayed earnestly, with
strong crying and tears, and sweat as 1t
| were drops of blood, and that an angel
! strengthened Him. He was willing to
| die in the garden and leave His great
work unfinished IL 1t should please the
| Father to have 1t so, but the passage In
| Hebrews says that He was heard, and
therefore delivered from this premature
death. This is the best light have upon
I It, and present it as such, but let each
search for himself In reliance upon the
| Holy Spirit There are mysteries In the
atonement which we cannot comprehend.
81. s'And He cometh and flndeth them
| sleeping and saith unto Peter: Simon,
sleepest thouf Couldst not thou watch
one hourS" The great glory of the Trans
| figuration as well as the great sorrow OF
| Gethsemane was too much for the flesh,
for they seem to have slept In the former
| duke TX, 32) as we'll as in the latter.
| 49, watch ye and pray lest ye enter
| into temptation. The spirit truly Is ready,
| but the flesh is weak. Like as a father
\ pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
| them that fear Him, for He knoweth our
| frame FPS. Gill, 49, What a comfort 1t
isl But let us not pity ourselves as satan
| through Peter advised Jesus to do (Math.
| xvi, 90, margin) Though our Lord rec
! ognizes and pities our weakness, He Him
J self has provided that He will be our
strength SO that we may sing, 1.-The Lord
Jehovah is my strength and my song
/ lisa. xii, g. We are to realize our weak
ness and never to rely upon ourselves, for
| His strength is made perfect In weakness,
! and to them that have no might He In
J creaseth strength Gil Cor. XII, 8; Isa XII,
( 20).
80. "And again He went away and
prayed and spake the same words" We
need not fear the repetition OF the Same
words in our prayers provided they are
| from the heart, nor need we fear to ask
| many times for the same thing, for Paul
also besought the Lord thrice to remove
his thorn In the flesh, and Jesus Himself
has taught us to be importunate In pray
| er (II Cor xii, 8; Luke xi, S. At the
same time He has put us on our guard
| against vain repetitions for the sake OF
| much speaking (Math vi, y.
10. And when He returned He found
them asleep again (for their eyes were
heavy. Neither visit they what to answer
| Him." We think of the ten virgins going
out to meet the bridegroom, yet all slum-
bered and slept. We think Of Jonah
| asleep In the storm, while tho sailors call
ed upon their gods and put forth every
| effort. We think of the multitudes OF
Christians who now seem to be asleep
through one or other of satan's many So
porific doses, and of the preachers who
seem to be asleep, too, and cry peace to
the people when they ought to sound an
alarm because Of the great apostasy and
the manifest nearness of the end Of this
| age
Al. "And He cometh the third time
and saith unto them: Sleep on now and
take your rest. It is enough. The hour
! is come. Behold the Son of Man is be-
trayed into the hands OF sinners. I" He had
| gone away the third time and prayed, say
ing the same words (Math. XVI, 44), and
returning finds them still asleep. Then
He says these words. Contrast the rest
which He here calls your rest, as He
thus addresses them, and the rest which He
has provided by these very suffcrings OF
His (Math. II, 2S), but to which the ma
jority of believers are SO Indifferent, for
they seem to know nothing of 1t. They
will not cease from their own works either
a..