fested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word. Now they know that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are from thee: for the words which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine: and all things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them. And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me. And the glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them; that they

may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me. Father, I desire 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 knew thee not, but I knew thee; and these knew that thou didst send me; and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I in them."

Had the eleven disciples known, as they talked with the Master and listened to his great intercessory prayer in that upper room, what would take place the next day, they would have certainly felt that they were in the Holy of Holies. On the mount of transfiguration Peter had said "It is good for us to be here," but in that upper room the thoughts of every heart were too deep for words. "Having loved his own he loved them to the end," and revealed his love by talking with them and praying for them.

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THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN

John 18: 1. "When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden into the which he entered himself with his disciples."

ITH bowed head and sorrowful heart, Jesus

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led his eleven disciples from the guest chamber in Jerusalem out across the Kidron to Gethsemane. As we read the inspired records of what took place that night, we know what is meant when it is said that the Captain of our Salvation should be "made perfect through suffering." No disciple will ever be called upon to pray with greater intensity of desire and, at the same time, say in more humble submission, "thy will be done." Who but the perfectly pure and sensitive Son of man can estimate the bitterness of that cup as it was prepared by the combined actions of Jesus' friends and his enemies, and as it may be seen from the human side. To be betrayed by one who had been for three years in the circle of his friends and followers; to be denied publicly by one who had made the most vehement protestations of friendship; to be forsaken by all those who claimed to be his nearest friends, just when he seemed to most need sympathy, was it not enough to break that great, generous, loving heart? Who has ever faced such consummate and universal unfaithfulness and ingratitude? When the friends we have loved and trusted betray, repudiate and forsake us in our time of need, we

can always see some act of our own that was inconsistent and unworthy perfect fidelity; but there was no such excuse for the unfaithfulness of Christ's disciples. He had been so pure, so true, so loving; and, now, when the powers of darkness have mustered all their forces for his destruction, his own disciples add the poison of unfaithfulness and treachery to the bitter cup. Is it any wonder that he should pray thrice, and in such agony, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me"? Was it not enough that his Jewish enemies should revile, persecute and abuse him? Was it not enough that Roman soldiers should drive nails into his hands and his feet and then lift him up to die on the cross? Must he suffer also the worst of all wounds, the wounds made by ingratitude, until he should cry out,

"For it was not an enemy that reproached me,
Then could I have borne it?"

Yes, he must drink this bitter cup in order that being made perfect through suffering he might be able to help others who would afterwards be called on to suffer in this way. If any Christian disciple feels overwhelmed by the ingratitude and unfaithfulness of his friends, he needs to go with Jesus into Gethsemane and look at the bitter cup from which his Lord shrank with horror, and then accepted. Jesus saw in that cup all the hatred and malice of enemies, all the physical pain and mortal agony of crucifixion, all the unfaithfulness and ingratitude of friends. He trod the winepress alone.

But there was also in that cup the awful darkness that overwhelmed his soul and constrained him to cry out on the cross, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" This agony of the Son of God we cannot measure. The mystery of suffering as expiation of the sins of an

other is a divine mystery; we only know that he bore our sins in his own body on the tree; we only know that he was made a sin-offering for us, and that the forsaking of the Father was the one crushing blow that led him to cry out in agony on the cross. It is possible that ordinary men may have a hint as to the quality of this suffering when, after they have been deserted and persecuted by men, they begin to feel that God also has turned against them.

When our Lord was preparing himself to endure all this agony, he felt the need of human sympathy. He would be alone, but would have his friends near him, and, when he came to Gethsemane, he said to his disciples, "Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray." He went farther into the garden, taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be "sorrowful and sore troubled." Then saith he unto them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death, abide ye here and watch with me. And he went forward a little and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."

After offering this prayer, Jesus came to the three disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "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." Again, a second time, he went and prayed saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, thy will be done," and he came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them again and went away and prayed the third time, using the same words. As he offered this prayer "his sweat became as it were great drops of blood,”