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ascension into heaven; that by this means the glory may redound to thee and cause thy will to be believed and obeyed through all the world to the salvation of mankind; according to the full intent of that office and power with which thou didst originally invest me to receive all fitly disposed persons into the covenant of salvation, and to assist and preserve them in it unto everlasting happiness: the condition of this covenent is, that they firmly believe and obey thee, as the only true God, and JESUS CHRIST, as the only true Messiah whom thou hast sent. In order to the bringing about this great design of salvation: I have declared thy will to mankind; I have published thy precepts, and discharged the great mission intrusted to me; I have preached the doctrines of repentance to salvation, and have finished the work which thou sentest me to do, to the glory of thy name npon earth; and now to complete the great design, do thou, O Almighty Father! likewise glorify me with thine own self; support me under my sufferings; let me prevail and triumph over death, by glorious resurrection, and exalt me again to the same glory in heaven which I had with thee before the creation of the universe. I have manifested thy will to my disciples, the men thou gavest me out of the world, and to all such as were fitted and disposed to receive it; to such as by a pious habit, and teachable disposition, were prepared to embrace whatever doctrine should appear to come from thee. To those persons thou didst in thine infinite wisdom appoint, that thy truth should be made known, and not to the prejudiced and vitious world: therefore, to them I have revealed the mysteries of thy kingdom, the precepts of thy gospel, and the doctrine of thy salvation; and this doctrine they have willingly embraced, steadfastly adhered to, and sincerely obeyed; as they are fully satisfied and convinced, That what I taught them as from thee, was really a divine doctrine taught by thine immediate appointment and command; and that I did not preach Cany human invention or institution of men, but was really sent by thy divine authority and commission. For these persons, therefore I now pray, that as thou hast begun the work of their salvation by my preaching and revealing to them thy will, while I have been present with them here upon earth; so also that thou wouldest preserve them when I am departed from this world, and complete the work of their salvation by my resurrection & ascension into heaven after my death. I do not pray for the unbelieving impenitent world, but for those who have embraced that most holy doctrine, which thou hast taught them through me by my preaching; for those who have glorified and will glorify my name by their ministry, and who consequently are to be esteemed as thine own, in common with me. I am now about to leave the world in order to return to thee, but these my disciples, who continue after me, I recommend to thy divine protection, when I am gone; endue them with powers to persevere in preaching and practising the truth, and to deliver the same holy doctrine which I have given to them, that so they may remain inseparably united to me, as I am to thee: so long as I have been with them in the world, I have watched over them, and kept them from falling away, both by example, preaching. and continual admonition, according to the power and authority which thou didst commit to me; nor has one of my apostles miscarried under my care, except that perfidious traitor who, as the Scripture foretold, has ungratefully conspired with my enemies to destroy me, aud will perish according to his deserts. While I have continued with my disciples, I have watched over them and preserved them under mine own eye: but now, as 1 am going to leave the world, I beseech thee to keep and assist them by thy good Spirit and let the expectation of their continuing under thy special care and protection, be their comfort and support in my absence. The world indeed, will persecute and hate them on my account, as my doctrine is repugnant to the lusts and affections, the passions, designs, and inclinations of wicked men; it must necessarily be, that the vitious and in

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corrigible world will oppose and persecute them, as it has before persecuted me; I beseech thee, therefore, to take them under thy particular care, to support them against the violence and oppression of an evil world: I do not desire that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but preserve them in it to be instruments of thy word, thy glory, and to be preachers of thy truth; nor sufler them to be either destroyed by the malice and violence of a perverse and wicked generation, or corrupted by the evil customs and opinions of it.

According to the example of purity which I have set before them, they are of a temper and spirit very different from the current affections and common dispositions of the world. Do thou preserve and increase in them that moderation and candour of mind; cause them to be thoroughly affected and impressed with that true doctrine so frequently recommended to them from my mouth, so as to express it visibly in their lives and practice, and to promote it zealously in their preaching that they may become worthy and succcessful ministers of my gospel, both by word and good example. κάτι

As thou hast sent me into the world to reveal thy will to mankind, so send 1 these my aposles to continue preaching the same doctrine begun by me; and the principal design of my exemplary life constant teaching, and now voluntarily offering myself to death for it, is to sanctify and enable them to preach with success and efficacy for the salvation of men. Neither pray I for these my apostles only, but for all others, who by their preaching and practice, promote thy true religion; and being converted from the world, may, by their sincere endeavours, go on to reform others, convineing the world of the excellency of their religion, and consequently enforeing men to acknowledge the truth and divine authority thereof: for promoting which great end, I have communicated to my apostles the same power and authority of doing mighty works for the confirmation of their doctrine, and the evidence of thy truth, as thou didst communicate to me; that so I working in them as thou hast done in me, and thus confirming with great efficacy and demonstration of the Spirit, they may establish the same doctrine which I publish in person, that the world may, by this evi dence, be convinced that I was really sent by thee, and that my disciples act by the same divine commission as I did.

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Almighty and Holy Father, all those whom thou hast thus given me, who have wisely embraced my doctrine and sincerely obeyed it, I desire that thou wouldest make them partakers of the same happiness with myself, and exalt them to behold the incomprehensible glory wherewith thou didst originally invest me in thy eternal love, before the foundation of the world. The generality of mortals, righteous Father! the covetous and ambitious, the crafty and designing men of this world have not known thee, nor been willing to embrace and obey the revelation of thy will; but I have known thy will, and have made it known to my disciples, men of simplicity, and honesty; and they have embraced and obeyed it: and I will continually make it known to them more and more, that they may grow up and improve in faith, in holiness, and all good works, so as finally to arrive and cause others to arrive at that eternal happiness, which is the effect of thy infinite love and mercy towards me and them.

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CHRIST'S Agony and Prayer in the garden of Gethsemane: Judas, betrayeth Jesus with a Kiss: The Officers and Soldiers, at CHRIST'S Word, fall to the Ground: CHRIST healeth a Servant of the HighPriest, whose Ear was cut off by Peter: His Disciples flee He is ted bound to Annas and Caiaphas

THE prayer of our great Intercessor being ended, he with his disciples, came down from the Mount of Olives into a field below, called Gethse mane, through which the brook Cedron ran, and in it, on the other side of the brook, was a garden, called the garden of Gethsemane. Here he de sired his disciples to sit down, perhaps at the garden door within, till he should retire to pray, taking with him, Peter, James, and John, those three select disciples whom he had before chosen to be witnesses of his transfiguration, and now to be eye-witnesses of his passion, leaving the other disciples at the garden-door, to watch the approach of Judas and his band.The sufferings he was on the point of undergoing were so great, that the very prospect of them terrified him, and made him express himself in this doleful exclamation," My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death varry ye here and watch. On this great occasion he sustained those grievous sorrows in his soul, by which, as well as by dying on the cross, he became a sin offering, and accomplished the redemption of mankind. He now withdrew from them about a stone's cast, and his human nature being now overburdened beyond measure he found it necessary to retire and pray, that if it was possible, or consistent with the salvation of the world, he might be delivered from the sufferings which were then laying on him: it was not the fear of dying on the cross which made him speak or pray in such a manner: to suppose this, would infinitely degrade his character, make his sufferings as terrible as possible, and clothe them with all the ag gravating circumstances of distress: yet the blessed JESUS, whose human nature was strengthened by being connected with the divine, could not shrink at the prospect of suffering, or betray a weakness which many of his followers, who, though mere men, were strangers to: having encountered more terrible deaths without the least emotion: He addressed his Divine Father with a sigh of fervent wishes, that the cup, might if possi ble be removed from him in the Greek, it is, "O that thou wouldest re move this cup from me." And having first kneeled and prayed, he fell prostrate on his face, accompanying his address with due expressions of re signation, adding immediately, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." Having prayed he returned to his disciples, and finding them asleep he said to Peters VoSimon sleepest thou ? Couldest not thou watch mone hour ?" Canst thou so soon forget thy Master? Thou who so lately boast

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thy courage and constancy in my service.

However, in this greatest distress, he never lost sight of that kind concern he had for his disciples: "Watchaye," he says," and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Neither was he on those extraordinary occasions, in the least moved with the offences which they had committed through frailty of human weakness: on the contrary, was always willing to make excuses for them; alledging in their defence, "that the spirit truly was ready, but the flesh was weak." It seems from these particulars, that he spent some considerable time in his addresses, because the disciples fell asleep in his absence, and he himself retired again to pray; for the sorrows of our Lord continuing to increase upon him, affecting him to such a degree, that he retired a second time, and prayed to the same purpose, saying, "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." After which he returned again to them and found them asleep, for their eyes were heavy." He returned thus frequently

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to his disciples, that they, by reading his distress in his countenance and gesture, might be witnesses of his passion which proves that his pain was beyond description intense and complicated; for he went away the third time to pray, and notwithstanding an angel was sent from heaven to comfort and strengthen him ; yet they overwhelmed him, and threw him into an agony; upon which he still continued to pray more earnestly: but the sense of his sufferings still increasing, they strained his whole body to su violent a degree, that his blood was pressed through the pores of his skin, which it pervaded, together with his sweat, and fell down in large drops to the ground: "And he left them, and went away again. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Thus did he suffer unspeakable sorrows in his soul, as long as Divine Wisdom thought proper. At length he obtained relief, being heard on account of his perfect and entire submission to the will of his heavenly Father: "And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow." This circumstance shews how much the disciples were affected with their Master's sufferings; the sensation of grief which they felt on seeing his unspeakable distress, so overpowered them that they sunk into sleep. Our blessed Saviour for the last time came to his disciples, and seeing them asleep, he said, " Sleep on now and take your rest; behold the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise let as be going; behold he is at hand that doth betray me.

The owner of the garden, it seems, where he now was, had been our Lord's acquaintance, perhaps his disciple, who believing on him, considered himself as highly honoured in JESUS's frequenting it, for the sake of retirement or devotion, and, therefore, had given him the free use of it whenever he pleased. We are told that Jesus knew the place; for "Jesus oft-times resorted thither, with his disciples." The chief priestsland elders being informed by Judas, that the proper time for apprehending JEsus was now come, sent a band of soldiers with him, and servants carrying lanterns and torches, to shew them the way; because, though it was always full moon at the passover, the sky might be dark with clouds, and the place whither they were going was shaded with trees; at the same time, a deputation of their number accompanied the band, to see that eve by one did his duty. Judas having thus a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh hither with lanterns and torches, and weapons; fer they were exceeding anxious to secure and get him into their hands, and the soldiers having perhaps never seen JESUS before, found it necessary that Judas should distinguish him, and point him out to them by some particular sign. St. Luke seems to say, that Judas went before them at a little distance, to prepare them for the readier execution of their office, by kissing his Master, the token they had agreed upon, that they might not mistake him and seize a wrong person: "And he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him." Nor can the account which St. John has given us, be understood on any other supposition, who says, that after Judas was come up with the soldiers. JESUS went out of the garden, and asked them, who it was they were seeking? To which they replied " Jesus of Nazareth. It therefore follows, that they were at a loss to know him which they could not have been, had they seen Judas kiss him: the kiss, therefore, must have been given in the garden before the band came up; nor is their agreement about the sign inconsistent with this supposition; because that confusion which commonly attends the commission of an evil action, might prevent Judas from giving the sign at the proper season. He went before the soldiers, on pretence that he would lead them to the place, and shew them the man by kissing him: however, to conceal his

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