with the deepest suffering, the meekest submission. The prayer is conditioned by possibilities. Lf justice can be satisfied, if redemption can be effected, if the government of God cav be upheld, if, consistently with all this, sinners can be saved without such excess of sorrow, so let it be! ‘The prayer was prayed three times. He went away and prayed; he kneeled down and prayed; he fell on his face or on the ground and prayed. ‘lhus he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears. His prayer was heard and answered, and yet the cup did not pass away. He was “heard in that he feared” (“for his godly fear,” Revised Version); or, according to another rendering of the words, “he was heard, and delivered from the fear of death.” Though the cup was not removed, the dread of death was thus taken away; at all events, strength was iinparted. 5. The strength secured by his supplication, “There appeared an angel unto him, strengthening him ;” literally, emfusing strength (émoxdwy airdv). The immediate consequence o! this increased or renewed strength was more earnest and energized supplication: “He prayed more earnestly (éxrevéorepoy).” Strictly speaking, he con- tinued praying (xpoondxero), and that more intensely; the tense (imperfect) of the verb and the qualifying adverb imply prayer sustained and intensified. But intensely earnest as his supplication for the removal of the cup had been, it was equalled by the entire surrender of his own will to that of his heavenly Father. He had said, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (so St. Matthew); he had said, “ Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (so St. Luke); while here, according to the record of St. Mark, he says, “ Abba, Father, ali things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” And once more, as we read in the Gospel of St. Matthew, he said, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” As though he had said,—lI feel it may not be; I know I must drink it; and as I must I will. Not as I will, but as tl@u wilt. Thy will be done. 6. His example. He was in all things an Example for us. We may pray, and with perfect propriety, for deliverance from danger, or disease, or difficulty, or distress of any kind. If the answer come directly and as desired, it is well; if not, succour of some sort will be brought us, strength suitable and grace sufficient will be given us; in either case, our duty is submission to a will that is wiser than our own, and a full surrender of ourselves into the hands of our heavenly Father, who, in disposing all things to his own glory, disposes them at the same time for our good. The address, as reported by St. Mark, repeats the word for “Father;” thus “ Abba” is the Aramaic for “ Father,” and to it is added the Greek word of the same signification. It may be that (1) St. Mark, as frequently, explains the ver- nacular Syriac of Palestine in our Lord’s day by the equivalent Greek word; or (2) the repetition may imply intensity of feeling and strong emotion, just as the thrice-prayed prayer imports intense earnestness of spirit; or(3) it may be that by this conjunction of two terms, Oriental and Occidental—the one used by the Jew, the other by the Greek— our Lord meant to express his interest on behalf of both Jew and Greek. Further, it has been questioned whether the shrinking of our Lord’s humanity on this occasion was in view of all the sufferings as a whole which, in the capacity of our Surety, he was to endure, or only of those apparently incidental and possibly unessential sufferings, occasioned, for example, by the treachery of one disciple, the denial by another, the desertion of them all, the Jewish trial and the Roman trial, the scourging, spitting, scofling, and such like. We can hardly thus separate the essential from the unes- sential, the indispensable from the incidental, in our Lord’s sufferings. As a man, he shrank from the wrath of God; but his ultimate submission to that sorest of all trials showed triumphantly his obedience to his heavenly Father’s will, Thus, in order to save his people, his endurance was complete and his example perfect.
V. THe SLEEPINESS OF THE DISCIPLES AND THE SADNESS THAT CAUSED IT. 1. Object of the disciples’ waiching. The Saviour had selected three disciples, as already seen, ta be with him. No doubt one object, perhaps the primary object, in view was that they might be eye-witnesses of his agony, and bear testimony thereof to his Church. But another object, aud one little if at all less in importance, was that they might be near him for sympathy and support. It was with this view, no doubt, he had said, “ Tarry ye vere, and watch with me.” But even of this human succour he was deprived, for ever as he came to them—once and again and a third time in the interval of prayer—he found
val. XIV. L—72.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK, 295