Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1906-09-20

sands OF people who have unt1incn-
| lngly faced death and died a martyrs
death with scarcely culver. And
1t would be almost irreverent in us
at such time as this to think of the
numerous cases OF criminals who
walk with unfaltering steps to the
electric chair or ascend the gallows
with all appearance of calmness.
Some commentators, as has al
ready been said, interpret this prayer
| as revolving or halting of Christ
at the thought of the approaching
cTucihxion, and the horrors which
preceded it, and attendant to it; the
betrayal Of Judas; Peters denial, and
the desertion of His disciples and all
] His followers; the humiliating trial.
and insults of the rabble, and the
lingering death on the cross. That
it was because Of the horrors of all
these things that Christ here meant
to ask God II there WIS not some
other way OF atoning for the sins, of
! men, and that Christ only yielded; to
the cross to fulfill His Fathers will.
| Those VINO advocate this view would
thus make it out that our Lord ifor-
got for the moment, by reason of His
suffering, the prophecies, and the
| plan of God in His redemption of
the world, throughout the history of
Israel: or if Christ did not forget
| that He tried to bend His Fathers
will to an atonement by some fother
way, and that Christ finally, after
three unsuccessful, attempts to bend
| Gods Will, yielded to hejcross.
| Why Christian people try to- ex-
| plain away this prayer in any such
| weak way is difficult to, understand
| What does Christianity want with a
weak Christ who feared q martyrs S
death? Our Lord was "a man OF soc-
rows and acquainted with grief" and
had been for three years. preparing
for the cross, and had on several oc-
| casions before this told H IS disciples
OF the manner of His deaf /, and they
could not understand at ;he time.
TO my mind, this pray II of Jess
| SHOWS, on the contrary, the bravery
of our Lord, and does not show any
weakness. am incline to think
that Christ had no Thought of the
cross during the time in. which He
| made this prayer, save in His remote
| consciousness: baIt He was, just at
that moment, fearful that. His mortal
body would suceumb to the terrible
strain He vas passing through, dur
Ing this awful hour in Eethsemane.
He felt that His life.would be crushed
out by this terrible !agony, before He
reached the cross, Tor does not one
of the accounts tell US Ch.fist's own
words, my soul is exceedin & sorrow
full. even unto DEATH" anil another
that, "being in agony, Eie prayed
more earnestly; and His sweat be-
came as it were great dror of blood
falling down upon the ground" And
God heard and answered His prayer
by sending an angel from heaven,
Strengthening Him.
Jesus was not, here,3 seeking to
bend His Fathers will ! but asking
God for strength to reach. the cross.
and God sent an angel in answer to
that prayer This is the scriptural
account of why our Lord was IN
agon . This cup, which. Christ was
drinking to the dregz, Was the cup of
Gods wrath upon the Ssins of men.
Christ was drinking the bitterness
OF the cup In our stead. His bloody
sweat was a srrinkling, an antici-
pated atonement, upon the very
ground which had been f.cursed" be-
cause Of mans sin. NoAimagination
can feel. no words can kdescribe the
agony tndt NAI1sI Aao W. oooA IL
Gethsemane.
So why need we searchAour imagi-
nations and try to manufacture mys-
terious explanations why Christ
made this prayer when the answer
and reason for the prayer, lis given
| in the very account itself, in the
necessity of the angels appearance?
When Jesus said, mot My will.
! but Thine, be done," He resigned
| Himself to Gods will. If He should
die of agony, it was Gods will but
l.e prayed that this cup should pass
from ! IN. But His atoning death
was not to be there in Gethsemane,
| in the night, but He was to be lifted
upon the cross of Calvary in order
that all men would be drawn unto
| Him.
We know that Christ's was sensl-
tive nature but this is not saying
that He was not brave. And there is
no reason to believe that He, In anti
cipation of His death, would yield
to the thought any more than an Or
| binary man. So, therefore, because
He suffered "even unto death, as
He did. in the Garden of Gethsem-
ane, is in itself an argument that he
was bearing more than the anticl-
patton.
So, therefore. let us not confound
Chr!st's suffering IN Gethsemaas "
: