imd ngc>ny of soul for which our language has no nnme, our heart no room, our life no rxpc:ience. \\·e a_sk-What was that intolera_ble and overwhelming anguish, which the Sanour askc,I might pass from him, and which had so marvellous and so terribly ~i'.'.nificant an effect. on his bodily natu_re (vers. 42-44)? Our completest answer leaves much to be said, much to be explamed. 1. We barely touch the outer line of 1 he whole circle of truth when we speak of the apprehension of coming torture an,j death as events in the natural, physical sphere. It is an irreverent and wholly unworthy conception that what many men-mauy who have not even been good men -have faced without flinching, our Lord and Master shrank from with an over- mastering clread. 2. We come nearer to the centre of the truth when we think that the whole shadow of the cross, with its spiritual darkness and desolation, then be11an to rest upon him. Something of that shadow had been darkening his path befure (Mark :x. 38 ; ch. :xii. 50; John xii. 27). And this shadow darkened and deepened as he drew near to the dread hour itself. At this point the cross immediately con- fronted him in all its awful severity, and he knew that this was the time when be mnst finally resolve to endure everything or to retrace his steps. This, then, was the critical hour; then was "the crisis of the world." Great and terrible was the tempta- tion to decline the fearful future now at hand; it was a temptation he struggled against with a spiritual violence that showed itself in the drops of blood; it was a temptation he only overcame by tearful supplications to the Eternal Father for his prevailing succour (Heb. v. 7). 3. But we miss our true mark if we do not include the thought that he was then bearing something of the burden of human sin. Whatever was intended by "bearing our sins in his own body," by "making his soul an offering for sin," and by expressions similar to these, we believe that Jesus Christ was then in the very act of fulfilling these predictions when he thus strove and suffered in the garden. As we look upon him there we see "the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world." The scene may teach us very varied lessons and. affect us in many ways ; but it is certainly well fitted to be- I. AN ATTRACTION TO sooLS STILL DIST..U."'T FBOM THE SAVIOUR, It says," Behold how he loved you ! " Il. AN INVlTATIOY TO l'B.-\YEll. FOR FAITHFULNESS IN THE HOUR 011' TRIAL, Both before and after, the Master exhorted his disciples to pray that "they entered not into temp- tation" (verl'. 40, 46). He himself triumphed through the strong efficacy of prayer ("l'er. 41). Prayer, appropriate at all times, is urgently needed as we enter the shadow of temptation; but it is positively indispensable when the greater trials of our life assail us. III. A SUMMONS TO STRENUOUS AND UNl'"ALTERING PER!IEVERANOE. Christian pilgrim, Christian workman, do you weary of your way or of your work? Does the one seem lon"0 and thorny, or the other tedious and unsuccessful? Do you think you must slee p as the disciples did, or that you must put down the cup as their Master did not? Do you talk about giving up the journey, about retiring from the field? Consider him who went quite through the work the Father. i,:_ave him to do, who strove and _suffered to the very last; consider him, the agomzmg but undaunted, the suffering but resolving Saviour; consider him, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds, "'Go, labour on, spend 1md be spent, Thy joy to do the Father's will ; It is the way the llfoster went, Should not the servant trea,d it still? n o. Ver. 42 (latter part).-Self.surrender. "Not my will, but thine, be done." These words are sug"estive as well as exprecsive. They suggest to us- L TlIE ESS~TUL NATURE OF SIN. Where shall we find the root of sin? Its mani- fold fruits we see around us in all forms of irrcligion, of vice, of violence. But io what shall we find its root? In the preference of our own will to the will of God. If we trace human wrong-doing and wrong-be_in~ to its ultimate joint, we arrive et that conclusion. It is because men are not w1lhng to be what Go created them to be, not willing to do what he desires the~ to do; it is ?ecauee they want t~ pursue those Jiue~ of thought and of action which he has forbldden, and to find the1r plea~ure and err. xxu.1-71.J THE GOSPEL AUCORDIXG TO ST. LT;KE. 225
tlieir portion in tliings which he has clisallowed,-that they err from the strait p'lth and begin the course which endH in condemnation and in death. The essence of nil sin ia in this e.ssortion of our will e.gainst the will of God. We fail to reco"nize the foundation truth that we nre his; tne.t by every sacred tie that can bind on;beincr0 to another we are bound, e.nd we belon2 to him from whom we came and in whom we Ii ve, and move, e.nd havo our being. Wo assume to be the masters of <mr own lives and fortunes, the directors of our own selves, of our own will; we say," My will, not thine, be done." 'fhus e.re we rnc1ieally wrong ; and being radically wrong, the issues of our he11rta are evil. From this fountain of error and of evil the streams of sin are flowin"0 • to thnt we trace their origin. '