Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1906-09-20
TIE PULPIT
an F<'eLOOUENT SUNDAY SERMON Rv
LIE REV. EARL E. CLEELAND.
Subject: Christ in Gethscmane.

:. brooklyn, N. Y.--sunday morning,
IN the Classon Avenue Presbyterian
Lnurcn, the assistant pastor. .ev.
ar MsIl =. Cleeland. preached on
..hrl5t in Gethsemane. Among
other things he said:
Inc text to which I ask your atten-
ion IS found in the twenty-sixth
chapter of Matthew, at the thirty
nlnta verse: my Father, If it be
possible, let this cup pass away from
Me: nevertheless, not as I will. hut
as Thou wilt" which are the words.
as Matthew has recorded them. Of
tne thrice repeated prayer of our
Lord in the place called Gethsemane.
You recall the account of the Last
Supper of the Lord with His disci-
pies, and the dark rcene in Geth-
semane which Immediately followed.
Iell1ng the disciples to sit We here
while l so yonder and pray" Jesus
took with him Peter and the two
sons of Zebedee" (James and john
ana began to be sorrowful and sore
troubled. Then saith He unto them,
MY soul is exceeding sorrowful, even
unto death; abide We here and watch
with Me-. And He went forward a
little and fell on His face and prayed,
saving: My Father, il It be possible
let this cup pass away from Ne;
nevertheless. not as I will. but as
Thou wilt" The gospel according
TO Luke goes on to tell US that then
there appeared unto Him an angel
from heaven, Strengthening Him, and
being In an agony He prayed more
earnestly, and His sweat became as
It were great drops Of blood falling
down upon the ground
| choose this text to-day as the
result Of conversation some ten
days ago, with one. of the members OF
this church, and at the outset / want
to Acknowledge my Indebtedness to
him for the suggestion Of this SER
men.
Many passages, in Scripture, are
variously interpreted and differently
understood by Christian people, and
students OF the Bible especially, and
often one W: find that the great
commentators themselves are almost
Numerically opposed TO each other
in the interpretations which they
make. find that our text to-day is
one of those disputed passages. Sew
eral of the authorities which 1 have
consulted in the study of this prayer
Of Christ in Gethsemane took the
view that Jesus feared and recoiled
at the thought of HIS approaching
death on the cross, and thus prayed
to God, His Father, trying. If it
were possible, to bend His will, and
have the end accomplished by some
other way than the cross. Only one
commentator, as I recall now, took
the view that our Lords agonized
prayer was insttgated by the over
whelming thought that He feared
His lifr would be crushed out under
meath the strain of mental suffering
He was undergoing, before He.
reached the cross, and thus He
prayed that this cup pass away from
Him.
The majority of Christian people,
I believe, and as / find, more of the
commentators do, attribute Christ's
suffering in Gethsemane to the weak
ness of His flesh, or humanity, to
face the death that was before Him,
and they interpret our text in this
light.
am inclined, however, to cast my
lot with the minority, and interpret
Christ's prayer as plea to God for
siren 9Th, that His life would not be
crushed out underneath His terrible
agony before the time appointed
through all the ages of prophecy be-
fore Him-that of His atonement on
the cross for the sins of men. And
in treating this passage let it be un-
derstood that anything I may say
has doubtless been said hundreds Of
times before. I only wish to try to
show, from Scripture, my position.
and therefore make no claims.
see no necessity of exercising our
imaginauons in endeavorirg to show
mysterious causes for our Lords
state of mind in this prayer, when
the reason for His agitation is plainly
given in the Scriptural account itself.
But now about this prayer of our
Lord in the garden Of Gethsemane,
1t seems incredible almost to think
that Christian people will attribute
less courage to the Son OF God than
they have eeen In hundreds Of exam
pies OF fesrlassnsss through all the
centuries psst, Think Of tho thous