תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

the security of his people, that none of them shall be lost! Let the son of perdition, who perished even from among the apostles, teach us an humble jealousy over our own hearts, whatever external privileges we enjoy; and engage us to maintain a continual regard to him who is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy! (Jude ver. 24.)

SECTION C.

JOHN XVII. 13-26.

AND now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: Thy word is truth.

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them ; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved

me.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

We have indeed perpetual reason of thankfulness that our gracious Redeemer spake these words in the world, and recalled them thus exactly to the memory of his beloved disciple so many years after, that we in the most distant ages of his church might, by reviewing them, have his joy fulfilled in us. Let us with pleasure recollect that those petitions which Christ offered for his apostles were expressly declared not to be intended for them alone; but so far as circumstances should agree, for all that should believe on him through their word, and therefore for us, if we are real, and not merely nominal believers. For us doth he still pray, not that God would immediately take us out of the world, though for his sake we may be continually hated and injured in it; but that he would keep us from the evil to which we are here exposed. For our sakes did he also sanctify himself as a propitiation for our sins, that we also might be sanctified through the truth; for he gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. (Titus ii. 14.)

May these wise and gracious purposes of his love be fulfilled in us! May we be one with each other, and with him! May that piety and charity appear in the whole series of our temper and behaviour, which may evidently shew the force of our religion, and reflect a conspicuous honour upon the great Founder of it! And may all concur to train us up for that complete felicity above, in which all the purposes of his love centre! It is the declared will of Christ, and let us never forget it, that his people should be with him where he is, that they may behold his glory which the Father has given him. And there is apparent congruity, as well as mercy in the appointment that where he is, there also should his servants and members be. The blessed angels do undoubtedly behold the glory of Christ with perpetual congratulation and delight; but how much more reason shall we have to rejoice and triumph in it when we consider it as the glory of one in our own nature, the glory of our Redeemer and our Friend, and the pledge and security of our own everlasting happiness! Let us often be lifting up the eyes of our faith towards it, and let us breathe after heaven in this view; in the mean time, with all due zeal, and love, and duty, acknowledging the Father and the Son, that

the joys of heaven may be anticipated in our souls, while the love of God is shed abroad there by his Spirit, which is given unto us; even something of that love wherewith he has loved Jesus, our incarnate Head.

SECTION Cİ.

MATT. XXVI. 30-35.

MARK XIV. 26-31. LUKE

XXII. 39. JOHN XVIII. 1.

WHEN Jesus had spoken these words, and they had sung a hymn, he went forth over the brook of Cedron, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after that I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee.

But Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said all the disciples.

So feeble is the heart of man, and yet so ready to trust to its own strength! So gracious is the Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, who gave himself to be smitten for his flock when they had forsaken him; and then returning, sought them out again, and fed them in richer pastures than before!

How reasonable is it that our hearts should be fixed in the most inflexible resolution for his service! How fit that we should every one of us say, with the utmost determination of soul, Lord, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee! For how could death wear a more graceful, or a more pleasing form, than when it met us close by our Saviour's side, and came as the seal of our fidelity to him?

Surely this is the language of many of our hearts before him, especially when warmed and animated by a sense of his dying love to us. Yet let us not be high-minded; for Peter

after this declaration, denied his Master; and the same night in which they had protested they would never leave him, ail the disciples forsook him and fled. (Matt. xxvi. 56.) Nor, on the other hand, let the view of that frailty discourage, though it ought to caution us; for the time came when each of them behaved as they here spoke; and they who in his very presence acted so weak a part, through the influences of his strengthening Spirit, resisted unto blood, and loved not their lives unto the death, for the testimony of Jesus. (Rev. xii. 11.)

SECTION CII.

MATT. XXVI. 36-46. MARK XIV. 32—42.

XXII. 40-46. JOHN XVIII. 1.

LUKE

THEN Cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter, and James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful, sore amazed, and very heavy. Then saith Jesus unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, fell on his face on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, O my Father, if it be possible, (and all things are possible unto thee,) take away this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.

And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? what could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation : the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And he went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they

what to answer him. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly : (with strong crying and tears, Heb. v. 7,) and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come the third time to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them, Why sleep ye now, and take your rest? it is enough; rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. Behold, the hour is come, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.

On the most transient survey of this amazing story we cannot but fall into deep admiration. What a sight is here! Let our souls turn aside to behold it with a becoming temper: and surely we must wonder how the disciples could sleep in the midst of a scene which might almost have awakened rocks and trees to compassion.

Behold the Prince of life, God's incarnate and only-begotten Son, drinking of the brook in the way, (Psalm cx. 7); and not only tasting, but drawing in full draughts of that bitter cup which his heavenly Father put into his hands on this awful occasion. Let us behold him kneeling, and even prostrate on the ground, and there pouring out his strong cries and tears to him that was able to save him from death. (Heb. v. 7.) Let us view him in this bloody agony, and say, If these things be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? (Luke xxiii. 31.) If even Christ himself was so depressed with sorrow and amazement, and the distress and anguish he endured were such, that in his agony the sweat ran from him like great drops of blood, when our iniquities were laid upon him, and it pleased the Father to bruise him, and to put him to grief, (Isa. liii. 6, 10); how must the sinner then be filled with horror, and with what dreadful agonies of anguish and despair will he be overwhelmed, when he shall bear the burden of his own iniquities, and God shall pour out all his wrath upon him? Behold, how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God! (Heb. x. 31.)

Here was no human enemy near our blessed Redeemer; yet such invisible terrors set themselves in array against him, that his very soul was poured out like water; nor was there any

« הקודםהמשך »