"Where I am;" in heaven, to which He was about to ascend with His glorified body; and where, as God, He was already, and had Ch. 3. 13. ever been. 25. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26. And I have declared unto them thy name, Thy will, Thy love, Thy glory, and will declare it by My resurrection, and afterwards by the power of the Holy Ghost; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. By My word and by My spirit abiding in them alway. So endeth this divine prayer; this most beautiful, most noble, perfect composition; breathing the pure spirit of love, and coming fresh from the spring of life and immortality, from the lips of the High and Holy One, "which inhabiteth eternity;" from the Beloved of the Father," the Author and Finisher of our faith." So closed His last interview with the eleven apostles; and how affecting are His words, how "full of grace and truth!" Certainly they ought to be read and pondered again and again; ought to be deeply and thankfully engraven upon our memories and our hearts. Jesus prayed for His apostles, and in them for all His ministers, that they might be sanctified with the truth; the truth as taught by His word and revealed by His Spirit; that as He "through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God," so their "conscience might be purged from dead works to serve the living God." (Heb. ix. 14.) And all the disciples should pray in like manner, pray without ceasing," for the ministers and dispensers of God's holy word and sacraments, that they may be enlightened and guided and sanctified; that their hands may be strengthened and their labours blessed, to the edification of the souls entrusted to them, to the turning of many to righteousness." Jesus prayed likewise for all; and all must pray for themselves and for one another, that the prayer of the Lord may be answered in their righteousness and salvation, that there may be added to the church daily such as shall be saved." And O that those fruits of the Spirit, "love, joy, peace," which the Saviour so earnestly desired for His followers, as the proof and seal of their faith in Him, may be uppermost in our minds also, and dear to our hearts; that we may seek and strive, above all things, to fix that principle, to cherish those feelings, of brotherly love," without which whosoever liveth is counted dead," and with which we may have reason to hope that "we are one with God, and God with us." Do we look and expect to be with Christ, and to behold His glory? Heaven is love; there is no hatred, no discord there. Would we be made meet for the presence and enjoyment of God? "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him." (1 John iv. 16.) Our christian love will never fail; we shall carry it with us beyond the grave, to the land of unsullied bliss, where we shall be "made perfect in one," in the love of Jehovah and of each other, to all eternity. And so be it. LECTURE LXIII. We are now going to read how Jesus was betrayed into the hands of the wicked Jews; betrayed by a false friend; by a disciple; by an apostle. CHAP. XVIII. 1. 1. When Jesus had spoken these words, when He had finished His prayer, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. This brook was close to Jerusalem, between the city and the Mount of Olives; it was the brook over which David passed, when he fled 2 Sam.15.23. from Absalom, and is often mentioned in the Old Testament. The garden was the garden Matt. 26.36 of Gethsemane, to which, as we find in the next verse, Jesus frequently resorted; i. e. He went and assembled there with His disciples. 2. And Judas also, which betrayed him, Luke 22.39. knew the place: for Jesus oft-times resorted thither with his disciples. 3. Judas then, weapons. How very shocking a spectacle! to see one who had been a disciple and an apostle, walking for years with Jesus as a friend, now standing with His enemies and ready to betray Him into their hand; using against his Lord that intimate knowledge which he had gained by his friendship! It shews, to what dreadful lengths the hollow and unsanctified heart of man may be led. Probably Judas never thought beforehand, that there was so much guilt within him; that he was even capable of such an abomination. How truly were fulfilled the words of the prophet, "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jer. 17. 9. Well may it make us watchful. We may here observe, that St. John passes over the agony of Christ in the garden, and the conduct of himself and Peter and James, as these things had been related in the other Gospels. And now let us see what followed. E E 6. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. What a very astonishing instance of divine power! How ought it to have convinced Judas and his blood-thirsty band, that the arm of the Lord was there; there revealed in might and terror! But they had closed their eyes, that they could not see, and blindly hurried on to their destruction. Awful indeed is the state of those, whom nothing can convince of their sin and danger. 7. Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these, these my apostles, go their way: 9. That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. The saying in chap xvii. 12, " none of them is lost, but the son of perdition." See the love and faithfulness of Jesus to His disciples; He is anxious for their safety, while He gives up Himself to the malice of His enemies: "having loved His own, He loved them unto the end." 10. Then Simon Peter having a sword, drew it, and smote the High Priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. St. John is the only writer, who mentions |