Evening star., 1923-03-10

II OSSis Ss&os
Gethsemane marks tho final turning
point In the life OF our Lord His
experience there made It the worlds
garden OF suffering, sorrow and strug-
gle. His agony there has associated
the word In human thought with the
deepest sorrows OF human life. It
position. No experience In His life
has revealed His humanity like His
agony in the garden. 1t was An hour
without parallel In history. Many
have found. when they have been
called upon to enter their Gethssmans.
| q source OF strength by recalling the
Masters agony In the garden. where
the olives were pressed into oil by tho
| feet Of men.
Our Lord entered 1t alone. Prophecy
, was fulfilled that memorable night
Ha could have said In truth. II have
| trodden tho winepress alone" His
Suffering was SO intense that His
! body was involved IN the agony OF
the soul until tho sweat WAS as It
| were. great drops Of blood" Geth-
semane was more than a place OF sor-
! Iom' ~ wao o sno.stn ton
Experience OF the Master was q he
| roic struggle. In the silence OF the
| night he fought tho battle OF Cal
| vary. Within tho limity Of that gar
and defeated the darkest one in a
battle for supremacy. No other per-
son ever faced such An hour as our
Lord. No other loved humanity like
| the Christ. 1t was in Gethsemane
I'LL nj
| cross. He entered al He left the gar
| den, calm and confident OF victory.
He won this battle As we must win
! those that We are called upon to face
at the oil press by thinking OF others
rather than self. Wellington claimed
that he won Waterloo upon tho cam
! pus at Elton. Like Jesus, we must
| win our battles before we enter the
contest. Secret prayer will fit US as
| il did Him with power to win.
During all His ministry Jesus had
faced the cross. He sought to pre-
pare the apostles for their darkness
| and trial. He approached Jerusalem
| conscious of His enemy's plans. He
| tried to win them. He sought to pro-
\ vent Judas from betraying Him. An
| unknown friend demonstrated his love
and loyalty by providing the upper
| room with all the accessories. for the
observance of the Passover. The Lord
took advantage of that service to fit
tho disciples for the coming conflict
His message concerning the future,
| recorded by John, has helped many a
heavy.hearted soul to endure when 1t
has entered tho valley OF the shadow.
He not only assured them of a future
place in the Fathers home, but by
| the institution OF the Lords Supper
| He provided q memorial that would
/ testify throughout the centuries how
! Christ also has suffered for sins
once, tho righteous for the unright-
| 4 bot ho inh hrin n q fn
and prophecy of future fellowship
| with Him, when wo shall partak c
| with Him of the bread and cup at His
| coming.
He saw in the wrecks OF humanity
with which he proposed to build His
Kingdom strifo over position OF pre-
eminence. He sought to correct this
| by the impressive object of service
| when He washed their feet- While
He thus emphasized the beneficence
| upon them to be prepared even to the
| oxtent of providing q comnissary
equipment for defense. Christian
service calls for the use OF every re-
source and capacity OF the human
| soul and body. The Christian is none
the less a man. The hour comes when
| self-defcnse is a duty. Gustavus Adolf
phus, Chinese Gordon. Stonewall
Jackson. Howard. Ailenby. Foch. Per
shing and Gen. Feng have demon
ers of Christ whom leading their
| armies, as much as when upon their
knees.
Reaching the gardens outer gate
Jesus left eight Of tho apostles to
| warn Him of approaching danger
Three of the number He took with
Him until he reached His favorite
place OF prayer. Leaving them there
our Lord went alone into the soli-
| tude, where He was accustomed to
IN
There. beneath the olive trees, 1t may
/ be said that the eXpiation OF our
sins began. Here Jesus felt the bur
den of sin He staggered under Its
| load. While IL is impossible for us 10
penetrate the deep recesses of Geth-
| semane, the striking passage in the
Epistle to the Hebrews furnishes a
key. to it's meaning. the experience
with His being called OF God and
| High Priest after the order OF
| Melchisedec.'
| This thought of Him as our High
! Priest is "A torch to enlighten for us
the darkness of the gardens gloom.
! Him as in that hour taking on Him
self tho sin Of the world, in a more
! intimate sense than ever before. Not
before Caiaphas, not at Pilates judg-
! ment seat was the issue to be de-
cidcd. but here and now before the
dawn Of morning. Like tho drama OF
many other souls, It is played in the
darkness of the night and alone with
God If in this special sense Christ
assumed the awful burden here, can
we wonder that He who was with
out sin shranS from being made
| sim"
| 1t was the purity of soul and spirit
that made Him shrink, that wrung
! from His body beads Of blood and
| from His heart the thrice -repeate ed
cry. Father. IL IL be possible let this
| cup pass from me-" 1t was only q
! now form OF the temptation OF the
wilderness. but with a full realiza
/ tion of the bitterness Of tho cup
Christ acknowledges obedience 10
| Divine law Not what I will. but
what Thou wilt" Jesus was praying
to "One' who could hear and answer
/ prayer. He tells US that He was
nigh unto death. Probably the cup
referred to d possible miscarriage OF
| the eternal plans of redemption. the
strain of His campaign had probably )
affected His heart. He recognized
the worlds salvation would be de-
feated unless He went to the cross
In answer to His cry our Lord re-
ceiyed strength from above so that
He was enabled to complete the work
| of salvation.
! Few who have reached the age
Of maturity have not passed through
| a Gethsemane which has left its
mark upon their soul. When we
come to the "oil press there we must
decide between following Gods will
or our own. AS we think of Geth-