if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them afleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, faying the fame words.

THOUGH it be univerfally acknowledged, that the example of Christ is intended for the imitation of Chriftians, yet we seldom take fufficient pains to delineate the several virtues of his life, and to imprefs our own hearts with a sense of their dignity and importance. The folcmn inftitutions of religion, however, have a direct tendency to bring these objects to our view; and the infifting on them, when we meet for public worship, must probably have the advantage of falling in with the natural current of our feelings and fentiments.

The knowledge of the characters of thofe perfons whom hiftory reprefents to us, is chiefly derived from obferving the manner in which they acted in the capital and most interesting scenes of life. In these the leading qualities of the mind concentre, and exert themselves;

themfelves; and they are marked fo diftinctly, and represented, as it were, fo luminously, that we can afcertain them with precifion. But of all the circumstances in which man can be placed, that of calamity and affliction proves most directly the vigour and the difpofitions of his mind; and fuch as this fituation discovers him to be, fuch he generally is.

The paffage of fcripture which I have now read, represents our Saviour overwhelmed with fuch a load of forrow and fuffering, and overpowered with fuch a variety of melancholy profpects, that, fuppofing the truth of his history, even his enemies cannot fail to believe, that upon this occasion, the natural and the genuine feelings of his mind must have broke forth, and that now, when all art must have been difconcerted, he truly appeared what he actually was. Every word, therefore, which he speaks, and every emotion he discovers, ftrongly indicates the nature of his character, and, as it were, fets the feal to it. The former tranfactions of his life must be tried by this touchftone; and in every inftance wherein they correfpond to what he spoke and acted in thefe critical moments,

we

we must confider them as the exhibitions of an uniform and confiftent character. But, before we enter on this view of our fubject, let us attend to the preceding part of the Evangelist's narration, and to the facts that are here represented to us.

As the time of our Saviour's fuffering drew near, he gave more direct intimations of it to his followers, and pointed out the very person who was to betray him into the hands of finners. After the inftitution of his fupper, he had departed with his difciples to the Mount of Olives, where he again declares to them his own impending fufferings, the general confternation in which they fhould be involved, and their desertion that was to enfue. After this, our text informs us, that he went to Gethsemane; and his particular attachment and affection engaging him to make choice of fome of the difciples for companions in that mournful hour which was to follow, he accordingly felected Peter, and James, and John, and retired with them. to a small distance. To them he opened the calamitous and diftreffed ftate of his mind, in that plain and unaffected language which is fo natural to distress. My foul, fays he, is

exceeding

d

exceeding forrowful, even unto death. And while he knew that it was appointed for him to tread the wine-prefs alone, and that of the people there fhould be none with him, yet the infirmity of nature fo far operated as to make him hope for fome affiftance from the prefence and fympathy of his friends. He, therefore, intreats them to tarry, and to watch with him. Then he went a little farther, and in the bitterness of his foul, he fell on his face, and implored his Father's aid, in these words, equally expreffive of his piety and his refignation, his fufferings and his fortitude: Father, if it be poffible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Upon returning to his dif ciples, he finds them asleep; and addreffing himself to Peter, who, but a little before, had fo confidently promifed upon the fidelity and fteadiness of his fervice, What, fays he, could not ye watch with me one hour? At the fame time he gives a gracious admonition against any future defection, and points out the means of avoiding it, Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: and with the fame mildness and benignity which ever diftinguished his character, he commends

a Ifaiah lxiii. 3.

their

their affection, and palliates their error; The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. In the utmost agony of mind, which forced the fweat through every pore, like great drops of blood, as Luke informs us, he reiterates the fame fervent and refigned prayer, and again finding the difciples afleep, he retires the third time, and prays to his Father, using the fame words.

From what caufes this forrow proceeded, which our Redeemer felt, is not precifely faid. But the whole history fhews us, that it was extreme and overwhelming. It certainly confifted chiefly in thofe views which arife from a dark and depreffed state of mind, and which the foul that feels, knows to be more poignant than all the tortures that can be inflicted on the body. The future calamities of a city whofe overthrow he frequently laments in fuch pathetic terms, the wretched state of a perishing world, the inconfiderable effects his divine inftructions had hitherto produced, the falfeness of a pretended friend, the infirmity of a few felect difciples; all, perhaps, wrought upon his compaffionate heart, and filled him with inexpreffible anguish, The forefight of suffer

ings