Ver, 89.-Gethsemane a repruentaeive rhT/,flid. Wherein does the scene of Calvary differ from the scene of Gethsemane? It would be easy to point out the sameness, the essential oneness, of the two scenes. But there is a difference. It lies in this : At Calvary the physical suffering is prominent. Our thought is sympathizingly occupied with our Lord's bodily agonies, and bleeding, breaking heart. At Gethsemane the physical is subordinate, the mental and spiritual are prominent; we are in the presence of an awful soul-struggle. Life is everywhere a conflict. Earth is a great battle-field. What does it all mean? Conflict in the heart. Conflict in the home. Conflict in the nation. Conflict everywhere. If we get light on the mystery anywhere, we get it in the garden of Gethsemane, where the Son of man is seen in bitter, almost overwhelm- ing conflict. I. THE CONFLICT OF LIFE 18 REALLY A 0ONFLIOT OF WILLS. God is the snpreme will; and his will ought to be supreme with his creatures. But to man has been entrusted a limited free-will. That free-will man has exercised until it has become masterful, and is constantly setting itself against God's will. Bodily conditions, the slavery of the senses, the attractions of the seen and temporal, all help to the strengthen- ing of man's will, man's wilfulness, so that the fight sometimes becomes severe. Our Lord, in taking on himself our human nature, took on him our sense-conditioned human will And this in Gethsemane tried a wrestling with the will of God. II. THE TRIUMPH IN THE CONFLICT OF LIFE IS YIELDING OUB WILL TO Gon's WILL. This is the triumph of Gethsemane. Our Lord did not want the Divine will to be altered. He wantod to gain the full surrender of his whole nature-body, mind, soul-to the acceptance of the will. Man never gives up his will save as the issue ot a :lierce struggle. Wha.t force can renew and strengthen man's will so that it shall accept God's will, and make it his? 1. The truth as it is in Jesus. 2. The work wrought through for us by Jesus. 3, 'l'he grace won for us a.nd given to us by Jesus. 4,, The actual present power exerted on us by Jesus. 6. The constrainings of the love of Jesllll. Ohrist came to make the will of God infinitely attractive to us. He is the gracious Persuader of the human will.-R. T. Ver; 41.-The reoognition of good intenti0118. "The spirit indeed is willing, but tho flesh is weak." Our Lord dealt very tenderly with these disciples. No reproachful word passed his lips. He was considerate of the influence which bodily frailty can exert upon the will; and did not immediately take np the idea that the will had swerved. "The priests on duty in the temple were expected to keep awake all night, and were severely punished if the temple-captain found them asleep. Peter and James and John could not watch for one-tenth part of that time, yet their Lord upbraids them very gently, and ascribes their seeming indifference to physical exhaustion." When God refused to permit David to build his temple, he graciously recognized his good intention : "Thou didst well that it was in thine heart." .And yet we have a familiar proverb showing the uselessness of "good intentions:" "Hell is paved with good intentions." On what conditions, .then, can our intentions be recognized and accepted? We can ourselves see that an intention ma.y be sometimes dght and sometimes wrong. L WHEN AN INTENTION 18 A HEBE SENTIMENT, IT IS WRONG. It need not be wrong as a sentiment; it is wrong if it is treated as an intention, and its acceptance is expected as such. It is a mere sen~iment when there is (1) no resolve of will in relation to it; and (2J when there is no watching for opportunity of carrying it out. Our intentions are revealed as mere sentiments whenever we let the chance of fulfilling them pass. Thill we are constantly doing, and this fact has created the proverb. II. WHEN AN INTENTION 18 A BEAL PURPOSE, IT IS BIGHT. Then it is thought- fully, not impulsively, formed. Due account is taken of circumstances and abilities. Fitting occasion is watched for, and energy is shown in overcoming difficulties. III. AN INTENTION 18 NOT lllADE WRONG BY BEING HINDERED IN EXECUTION, People often mistl\ke by assuming thl\t failure shows our purpose to have been wrong. MATTIIF.W-II. 2P 1ii8 TTIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MA'l'TIIEW. [err. xxvL 1-75.
But. t.here are other things to t.ake into ILCCount beside our intentions. We can always hal'c this 11~surance, God knows whether we would have done what we intended if wo could.-R. T.