Gethsemane (oil press), beyond the torrent Kedron, scene of hallowed memories, indelibly written upon the hearts of the Lord's people and the annals of eternity- the place of the soul – anguish of the blessed obedient One, ever calls for our careful and prayerful meditation.

Over that brook Kedron, David, the rejected king, passed with the few who followed him in days of adversity, weeping as they went. The heart of the men of Israel had turned from the Lord's anointed, and chosen the usurper in his stead. It is beautiful to see David's entire submission to the will of God under these most trying circumstances. His spirit, like that of the blessed Lord, was without resentment, and like Him, when one would have drawn a sword to resent insult, David forbade it, taking his cup of sorrow from the hand of God and bowing to His holy will.

For David, however, there was no Gethsemane, no depths of 'anguish, such as awaited the Holy Sufferer.

John says, "Where was a garden," and one's thoughts go back to another "garden" planted by the Lord, scene of another conflict, between man and Satan, when, alas. Satan triumphed, God was dishonored, and all creation ruined.

"Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples." Many nights, doubtless, were passed in holy solitude there, communing with the Father, that supreme moment of suffering ever before Him, when His soul must be made "an offering for sin." and the anguish and bitterness of death be tasted. The closing scenes pass before our eyes in John's Gospel. In chap. 11:49-53 the heads of the nation fully determine His death. In chap. 12 He speaks to the Father, conscious that the "hour has come," in which as the corn of wheat He must die or abide alone. In chap. 13 the betrayer is present, and after partaking of the sop-special mark of affection-leaves the company, before the institution of the Lord's Supper, and passes into the darkness. Well does Scripture say, "And it was night," the night surely of man's wickedness, as the Lord afterward said to the crowd, "This is your hour and the power of darkness." Chaps. 14 to 17 may be treated as a parenthesis, as containing ministry to prepare the hearts of His own for His absence. In chap. 18 the last great conflict begins, the Holy Sufferer enters the garden of Gethsemane with His disciples.

In perfect accord with the character of his Gospel, John omits all reference to His deep soul-anguish and bitter tears. We have not here His pleading with the Father, and His strengthening by angelic ministry for the coming conflict-this we find in the synoptic Gospels-and since Luke presents Him as "Son of Man," to that Gospel we would naturally turn to find holy humanity tested, and we are not disappointed, since Luke gives in fuller detail all that passed during that fearful conflict.

Withdrawn from His disciples, Mark says, He took with Him Peter, James and John, witnesses of His manifested glory upon the Mount of Transfiguration, where they "were heavy with sleep" (Alas, what is man?), saying to them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death; tarry ye here and watch."

What a privilege was theirs! What should they have felt to be associated with such an hour!
He leaves them, withdrawn, we are told, about a stone's cast, but the distance spiritually was immeasurable. It was written, "Lover and friend hast Thou put far from Me, and mine acquaintance into darkness." Into that conflict, who could enter? Spotless in His humanity, He alone could rightly feel the awfulness of sin, and alone contemplate the drinking of that bitter cup.

The perfection of His Manhood is seen in all that He undergoes. His human spirit shrinks, not from the physical pain He must endure, not from the coarse and brutal treatment of the rabble crowd, but from contact with sin. The cup, beloved, which our sins had filled, the tasting of death as the judgment of God, the anguish of that hour before Him, when the forsaking of God must be endured, all, all pressed upon His spirit and made Him "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." As the dependent, obedient One, "He kneeled down and prayed," supplicating the Father in deep earnestness that, if it were possible, the cup might pass from Him. Had He not felt a holy desire to avoid that cup, His humanity would not have been perfect, but He felt all He must endure. His human spirit was weighed down, yet with a weight no mere man could fathom. Entire submission and obedience marked that perfect One, "Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."

Angelic ministry strengthened Him for the conflict, but the cup is still before Him. The sorrow deepens, and so deep is the anguish that "His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground!"

Here we might well linger, and since all is passed, dwell upon His perfections, delighting in His love, a love well known even now, but to be enjoyed in fuller measure when with Himself in glory. Here we see in Him the conscious weakness of humanity and, in the circumstances, not a thought that was not perfectly human, yet at the same time, not a thought that was not suited to the presence and character of God. The cup must be drunk, and while we see all that characterized holy humanity, we see too nothing that could militate against the perfectness of the One in whom "all the fulness (of the Godhead) was pleased to dwell." To Peter the Lord said, "Could ye not watch with Me one hour?" The flesh was weak, and is weak, indeed! The one who had boasted his affection, and asserted his willingness to go to prison and death, had slept during the time of the Lord's sorrow. Alas; what weakness! How humiliating for poor Peter! Yet a needed lesson surely, that his self-confidence might be broken down, and that he might learn that only by divine power can the weakness of the flesh be overcome, and the power of God alone overcome the power of the enemy.

What a lesson for us in all this! We are no better than Peter, the flesh profiteth nothing, but we can, with adoring hearts, look on and see WHO was there, while we remember that, "No man knoweth the Son but the Father," and that we, as the disciples, need to "Watch and pray" lest we "enter into temptation."

There is a verse, connected with this scene, in Heb. 5, which might fittingly be referred to in closing, which has exercised many as it reads in the Authorized Version. "Who in the days of his flesh when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared" (ver. 7). In J. N-D.'s translation, it will be seen that the word "from" should be "out of." The latter we know was fully demonstrated in resurrection. He passed through death, but was not holden of it. The Lord give us with unshod feet to tread these holy scenes of the Saviour's sorrows.
J. W. H. N.