The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1895-04-19

international Lesson for May q, 1893
The Agony In Gethsemsne-Mnrk 1889
*

the lesson and the parallel accounts in Mat
thew rs: 36-46; Luke %; 500; John 1871
TIME.-A. d. 30, Thursday evening. April Q,
Sbout midnight, to about one o'clock Friday
morning. April T. Immediately following the
institution OF the Lords Supper.
PLACE --Gethsemane, q garden on the west
ern slope OF the Mount OF Olives.
JESUS was beginning the last day OF His
earthly life. About thirty-three and one-half
years old
! CIRCUMSTANCES. I'VE closed our last lesson
with those words Of heavenly comfort and in
struction which the beloved disciple has pre-
served for US In his Gospel Closing with
prayer overlooking with tenderness and hope.
and with hymn sung by all Jesus had COM
pIeted His work as teacher. and there re-
NAMED only the steps To the cross. and tho
atoning work thereon. by which alone His
words could become the power OF God for SAL
walton
LESSON NOTES.
A coarser infidelity has much To say
about the shrinking of our Lord from
death. Such weakness is pronounced
unworthy, in contrast with many
martyr Who has gone triuinphantly to
his cross; and many hero to whom
death has been welcome as the sight
of'slSy and stars to prisoned men.
1T would suffice to answer that Jesus
but before Pontius PLATE witnessed
good confession, and won upon the
cross the alteration of a fellow-sufferer
and the confession of Roman soldier"
Courage is not stoical Indifference
nor insensibility to suffering. 1t is not
that physical prowess which disdains
any expression of pain. 1.-The stole, TO
whom pain is no evil, and the Indian,
laughing and singing at the stake, are
partly actors and partly perversions of
humanity" "Nho isso hard-hearted as
to think less of the valor of the mar
tyrs because it was bought by many a
lonely and intense conflict with the
flesh?" True courage is of the sonl,
and is measured by the degree of sensi-
bility TO pain, and by the full vision
and consciousness of the evil to be en-
dured, together with the unflinching
doing of ones duty in the face of all. The
most sensitive soul is often the bravest.
friend once called the attention of
Napoleon to the blanched face of an
officer as he was marching into battle,
as showing that he was a coward. Ma
poleon replied that that man was the
bravest officer in his army; for he saw
clearly and felt keenly his danger, and
yet.went forward into the 'thickest of
the battle.
Into this one hour were crowded by
provision the combined horrors of the
passion, its cruelty, its shame, its
physical torment. its spiritual tortures.
He felt with the greatest intensity the
sin of the world. The wiclSeduess OF
Judas, the weakness of even His chosen
ones, the best on earth, the crimes Of
Jewish leaders soon To be wrought
against Himself, their measurcless folly
in rejecting their Messiah, thSr only
hope, the terrible evils soon to come
upon the whole nation brought before
His soul the most awful results of sin
upon the human race. 1t was the I'M
spealtable horror of world throwing
away Heaven and hope, and trampling
on the most radiant manifestation of
love God Himself could make to them.
1t was the mother heart burdcncd with
the sin and ingratieude of her son who
smites her for her efforts to save him.
The Answer to Christi Prayer.-N.
AZ: Lake 22:43. There were three an
swerS To the prayer Oh Jesus.
First. the angel strengthening him
Uuke) was direct answer There are
two ways of answering "a prayer for
the removal Of burden. In one the
burden is taken away, and we remain
the same; in the other we are made SO
strong that the burden is no longer
! burden to us; as what would crush
child is but sport to man. Paul
kept the thorn in his flesh, but Gods
grace was made sufficient for him.
Jesus going on to the cross ". 42) shows
that the answer was given.
Second, lie had rlost intimate com
munion with God. by His trouble and
His prayer He came close to His Heaven
ly Father.
The third answer to prayer is the
giving, not that which we ask for in
the form we ask it, but the soul of our
PRAYER, the thing we in our deepest
hearts want, and would ask for il we
saw all things as God sees them. If
clearly before the vision of Jesus there
had appeared two choices, the one of
escape from the cross. but with that
also the failure of His mission, the
triumph of evil, the loss Of unnumbered
souls, no crown, no glory, no abiding
on the right hand Of God; and the other
choice, that Of the cross and its agony,
but with it also the redemption of the
world, the ineffable glory of God, the
JOYS of millions of the saved, the crown
of triumph over evil-who doubts
which would have been His real, inner
most prayer. His prayer was answered,
for the cross was changed to a crown,
Gethscmane into paradise, death into
immortal glory.
LESSONS FROM GETHsEMANE.
Every life has its Gcthsemanes of sor.
row, and may have its victories.
Alone, that WORKOUT word
Yet all tho poets sing. and grief hath known
or hopes laid waste knells in that word. Alone
-Bulwer
"Bc sure it is something more than
surface feeling, something more than
impulse; it is good, honest, sober, con
: siderate, patient principle, stayed NJ
by prayer, that alone can remain awake
and outwatch the stars, and wait
through the darkness, and conquer
temptation. -. ID. Huntington.
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