BOOK

V

order that] the Father should keep them [preserve, τnphoŋs] from the Evil One.' And this the more emphatically, because, even as He was not, so were they not out of the world,' which lay in the Evil One. And the preservative which He sought for them was not outward but inward, the same in kind as while He had been with them, only coming now directly from the Father. It was sanctification in the truth,'' with this significant addition: The word that is Thine vv. 12-17 (ó λóyos ó σós) is truth.''

a St. John xvii. 12

b

b

a

In its last part this intercessory Prayer of the Great High-Priest bore on the work of the disciples and its fruits. As the Father had sent the Son, so did the Son send the disciples into the world—in the same manner, and on the same Mission. And for their sakes He now solemnly offered Himself, 'consecrated' or 'sanctified' Himself, that they might in truth '3-truly-be consecrated. And in view of this their work, to which they were consecrated, did Christ pray not for them alone, but also for those who, through their word, would believe in Him, in order,' or 'that so,' 'all may be one'-form a unity. Christ, as sent by the Father, gathered out the original 'unity;' they, as sent by Him, and consecrated by His consecration, were to gather others, but all were to form through the common spiritual communication one great unity. As Thou in Me, and I also in Thee, so that [in order that] they also may be in Us, so that [in order that] the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.' 'And the glory that Thou hast given Me'-referring to His Mission in the world, and His setting apart and authorisation for it—I have given to them, so that [in order that] [in this respect also] they may be one, even as We are One [a unity]. I in them, and Thou in Me, so that they may be perfected into One'-the ideal unity and real character of the Church, this- so that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them as Thou lovedst Me.'

After this unspeakably sublime consecration of His Church, and communication to her of His glory as well as of His Work, we cannot vv. 24-26 marvel at what follows and concludes the Lord's Prayer.' We remember the unity of the Church-a unity in Him, and as that between the Father and the Son-as we listen to this: That which Thou hast given Me, I will that, where I am, they also may be with

'This meaning is ruled by a reference to 1 John v. 18, 19, and, if so, it seems in turn to rule the meaning of the petition: Deliver us from the Evil One.' 2 Not, by Thy truth.'

Not, as in the A. V. (ver. 19), 'through

the truth (ἐν ἀληθείᾳ).

It need scarcely be said that by the termunity' we refer not to unity of Person, but of Nature, Character, and Work.

CLOSE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER.

531

Me-so that they may gaze [behold] on the glory that is Mine, CHAP. which Thou hast given Me [be sharers in the Messianic glory]: because Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.'

And we all would fain place ourselves in the shadow of this final consecration of Himself and of His Church by the Great High-Priest, which is alike final appeal, claim, and prayer: O Righteous Father, the world knew Thee not, but I know Thee, and these know that Thou sentest Me. And I made known unto them Thy Name, and will make it known, so that [in order that] the love wherewith Thou lovedst Me may be in them, and I in them.' This is the charter of the Church: her possession and her joy; her faith, her hope also, and love; and in this she standeth, prayeth, and worketh.

XI

BOOK

cxviii.

V

CHAPTER XII.

GETHSEMANE.

(St. Matt. xxvi. 30-56; St. Mark xiv. 26-52; St. Luke xxii. 31-53; St. John xviii. 1-11.)

WE turn once more to follow the steps of Christ, now among the last He trod upon earth. The 'hymn,' with which the Paschal Supper ended, had been sung. Probably we are to understand this of the *Ps. cxv. to second portion of the Hallel, sung some time after the third Cup, or else of Psalm cxxxvi., which, in the present Ritual, stands near the end of the service. The last Discourses had been spoken, the last Prayer, that of Consecration, had been offered, and Jesus prepared to go forth out of the City, to the Mount of Olives. The streets could scarcely be said to be deserted, for, from many a house shone the festive lamp, and many a company may still have been gathered; and everywhere was the bustle of preparation for going up to the Temple, the gates of which were thrown open at midnight.

Passing out by the gate north of the Temple, we descend into a lonely part of the valley of black Kidron, at that season swelled into a winter torrent. Crossing it, we turn somewhat to the left, where the road leads towards Olivet. Not many steps farther (beyond, and on the other side of the present Church of the Sepulchre of the Virgin) we turn aside from the road to the right, and reach what tradition has since earliest times-and probably correctly-pointed out as Gethsemane,' the Oil-press.' It was a small property enclosed (xwpíov), a garden' in the Eastern sense, where probably, amidst a variety of fruit trees and flowering shrubs, was a lowly, quiet summer-retreat, connected with, or near by, the 'Olive-press.' The present Gethsemane is only some seventy steps square, and though its old gnarled olives cannot be those (if such there were) of the time of Jesus, since all trees in that valley-those also which stretched their shadows over Jesus-were hewn down in the Roman siege, they may have sprung from the old roots, or from the old kernels. But we love to think of this 'Garden' as the place where

ON THE WAY TO GETHSEMANE.

Jesus often '-not merely on this occasion, but perhaps on previous visits to Jerusalem-gathered with His disciples. It was a quiet resting-place, for retirement, prayer, perhaps sleep, and a trystingplace also where not only the Twelve, but others also, may have been wont to meet the Master. And as such it was known to Judas, and thither he led the armed band, when they found the Upper Chamber no longer occupied by Jesus and His disciples. Whether it had been intended that He should spend part of the night there, before returning to the Temple, and whose that enclosed garden was-the other Eden, in which the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven, bore the penalty of the first, and in obeying gained life—we know not, and perhaps ought not to inquire. It may have belonged to Mark's father. But if otherwise, Jesus had loving disciples even in Jerusalem, and, we rejoice to think, not only a home at Bethany, and an Upper Chamber furnished in the City, but a quiet retreat and trysting-place for His own under the bosom of Olivet, in the shadow of the garden of the Oil-press.'

a

a

7

533

CHAP.

XII

The sickly light of the moon was falling full on them as they were crossing Kidron. It was here, we imagine, after they had left the City behind them, that the Lord addressed Himself first to the disciples generally. We can scarcely call it either prediction or warning. Rather, as we think of that last Supper, of Christ passing through the streets of the City for the last time into that Garden, and especially of what was now immediately before Him, does what He spake seem natural, even necessary. To them—yes, to them all -He would that night be even a stumbling-block. And so had it been foretold of old, that the Shepherd would be smitten, and the sheep Zech. xiii. scattered. Did this prophecy of His suffering, in its grand outlines, fill the mind of the Saviour as He went forth on His Passion? Such Old Testament thoughts were at any rate present with Him, when, not unconsciously nor of necessity, but as the Lamb of God, He went to the slaughter. A peculiar significance also attaches to His prediction that, after He was risen, He would go before them into Galilee. For, with their scattering upon His Death, it seems to us, the Apostolic circle or College was, as such, for a time broken up. They continued, indeed, to meet together as individual disciples, but the Apostolic bond was temporarily dissolved. This explains many things: the absence of Thomas on the first, and his peculiar position on the second Sunday; the uncertainty of the disciples, as evidenced by the words of those on the way to Emmaus; as well as the seemingly strange movements of the Apostles-all which are quite

St. Matt.

xxvi. 32; St.

Mark xiv. 28

BOOK

V

* St. John xxi. 2

b St. Matt.

xxviii. 16

⚫ u. s. vv. 18-20

d St. Luke xxii. 31

changed when the Apostolic bond is restored. Similarly, we mark, that only seven of them seem to have been together by the Lake of Galilee," and that only afterwards the Eleven met Him on the mountain to which He had directed them. It was here that the Apostolic circle or College was once more re-formed, and the Apostolic commission renewed, and thence they returned to Jerusalem, once more sent forth from Galilee, to await the final events of His Ascension, and the Coming of the Holy Ghost.

But in that night they understood none of these things. While all were staggering under the blow of their predicted scattering, the Lord seems to have turned to Peter individually. What He said, and how He put it, equally demand our attention: 'Simon, Simon'd -using his old name when referring to the old man in him- Satan has obtained [out-asked, nτýσaтo] you, for the purpose of sifting like as wheat. But I have made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not.' The words admit us into two mysteries of heaven. This night seems to have been the power of darkness,' when, left of God, Christ had to meet by Himself the whole assault of hell, and to conquer in His own strength as Man's Substitute and Representative. It is a great mystery: but quite consistent with itself. We do not, as others, here see any analogy to the permission given to Satan in the opening chapters of the Book of Job, always supposing that this embodies a real, not an allegorical story. But in that night the fierce wind of hell was allowed to sweep unbroken over the Saviour, and even to expend its fury upon those that stood behind in His Shelter. He had 'out-asked 'it-obtained it-not to destroy, nor to cast down, but to sift,' like as wheat is shaken in a sieve to cast out of it what is not grain. Hitherto, and no farther, had Satan obtained it. In that night of Christ's Agony and loneliness, of the utmost conflict between Christ and Satan, this seems almost a necessary element.

This, then, was the first mystery that had passed. And this sifting would affect Peter more than the others. Judas, who loved not Jesus at all, had already fallen; Peter, who loved Him-perhaps not most intensely, but, if the expression be allowed, most extensely -stood next to Judas in danger. In truth, though most widely apart in their directions, the springs of their inner life rose in close proximity. There was the same readiness to kindle into enthusiasm, the same desire to have public opinion with him, the same shrinking from the Cross, the same moral inability or unwillingness to

It is very probable that the basis of the figure is Amos ix. 9.