— ^to be " made a curse for us," — and to allow our iniqui- ties to be laid on Himself. (2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13. Isai. liii. 6.) It was the enormous weight of these iniquities which made Him suffer agony. It was the sense of a world's guilt pressing Him down which made even the eternal Son of God sweat great drops of blood, and called from Him " strong crying and tears.'* The cause of Christ's agony was man's sin. (Heb. v. 7.)
We must beware jealously of the modern notion that our blessed Lord's life and death were nothing more than a great example of self-sacrifice. Such a notion throws darkness and confusion over the whole Gospel. It dis- honours the Lord Jesus, and represents Him as less resigned in the day of death than many a modern martyr. We must cling firmly to the old doctrine that Christ was " bearing our sins," both in the garden and on the cross. No other doctrine can ever explain the passage before us, or satisfy the conscience of guilty man.
Would we see the sinfulness of sin in its true colours ? Would we learn to hate sin with a godly hatred ? Would we know something of the intense misery of souls in hell ? 'Would we understand something of the unspeakable love of Christ? Would we comprehend Christ's ability to sympathize with those that are in trouble ? Then let the agony in the garden come often into our minds. The depth of that agony may give us some idea of our debt to Christ.
'We see, lastly, in these verses, an example of the feeble- ness of Hie best of saints. We are told that while our Liord was in agony. His disciples fell asleep. In spite of a plain injunction to pray, and a plain warning against