weakness of their flesh. He then went a little way off, and engaged again in prayer. He prayed in the same words that he had used before, but his mind does not appear to have been so greatly troubled upon this occasion as upon the last. He returned again to the three disciples, and found that their eyes were so heavy that they had fallen asleep again; and when he came to them, they did not know what to say to him. He left them once more, and retiring to a short distance, repeated the same prayer as before. Then, returning to Peter, James, and John, he expressed his surprise that they were still taking their rest; and warning them that the moment was come when he was about to be betrayed into the power of his enemies, he bid them rise up and follow him, for Judas was close at hand. They immediately went to the entrance of the garden where they had left the other eight Apostles; these, being left alone, had been considering the painful circumstances in which their Master stood, and the sad things he had told them should come to pass; until, wearied with their sorrowful thoughts at that hour of the night, they had fallen asleep. Jesus awoke them; and putting them in mind that he had charged them to occupy themselves in prayer, in order that they might not enter into temptation, he repeated his commandment to that effect.

REFLECTIONS.

In the scene now before us we have a sad proof of the weakness and infirmity of human nature in the case of the Apostles. The duty of watchfulness and prayer so specially enjoined, and under such striking circumstances, ought not only to have been easy, but it should have been the great source of comfort and support to them, and have occupied their thoughts, so as to overcome, in a great measure, the fatigue of their bodies, and to keep them awake. There is a striking contrast between the difficulty of prayer in the Apostles, and the power and effect of prayer in our Lord himself. His agony, and sense of the burden of sin, found its vent in communion with God; and the expression of his feelings in prayer, produced that perfect calmness and submission to the Almighty will, which his conduct afterwards shewed. The command to "watch unto prayer," (1 Pet. iv. 7), is given in Scripture to us all but how much more frequently do we resemble the weak disciples, whose bodily infirmities overcame their spiritual desires, than we ever make any approach to that persevering exercise of real communion with God, of the success of which our Lord, upon this occasion, gave so powerful an example.

FOURTEENTH PORTION.

(Read John xviii. 2, 3. Matt. xxvi. 47.

Mark xiv. 43. John

xviii. 4-9. Matt. xxvi. 48-50. Mark xiv. 44-46.

xxii. 47, 48.)

THE BETRAYAL.

Luke

The Apostle Judas had, before the Pascal Supper, made an agreement with the chief Priests to deliver Jesus to them (Luke xxii. 4-6); and he had left the Supper-chamber for the purpose of putting his plan into execution. The chief priests and Pharisees who were expecting him to fulfil his promise, and therefore were waiting for him, ordered a number of Roman soldiers with their officers (which were usually placed at their disposal by the governor, for the purpose of keeping the peace), to do as Judas might direct them; and a number of the servants of the Pharisees, and other persons, who were waiting about the high priest's house, joined the company of soldiers, together with some stragglers who were loitering about at that late hour. These latter armed themselves with clubs, and other weapons that might chance to be at hand; and, although it was moonlight, some of them took lanterns with them, and some torches, thinking that they would have to search for Jesus where he might hide himself. Judas knew where it was likely that Jesus would have gone upon leaving the Supper-chamber, as he had been accustomed to go with his disciples to Gethsemane upon other occasions; and therefore this traitor led the whole party of soldiers, and servants, and rabble, straight to the place where Jesus was with his other Apostles. They approached the entrance of the garden just as our Lord had rejoined the disciples, after his agony and prayer. Being fully aware of every thing that was about to happen, he went out of the garden to meet them, and asked them at once whom they wanted. They said that they were seeking for Jesus the Nazarene. He told them that he was the person. Judas was standing with the soldiers when he said

this. The moment Jesus had declared to them who he was, the whole party staggered backwards, and fell to the ground. While they were rising, Jesus put the same question to them again, asking them whom they were looking for? They answered as before, that they were in search of Jesus the Nazarene. He said that he had already informed them that he was the person; and he requested that, if they were only looking for him, they would allow his disciples to pass free, without taking them up. This he did to fulfil what he had just before said in his prayer to the Father, "of them which thou gavest me, I have lost none." (John xvii. 12.)

The Roman soldiers were not acquainted with the person of Jesus Christ, and although he had acknowledged himself in the manner he had done, they did not proceed to take him, because they had received a particular order from Judas, who had given them a sign by which to know whom they were to arrest. The sign was, that Judas would go up to the proper person and kiss him. Whoever he kissed, the soldiers were ordered to take prisoner; and with the obedience which was always so strictly required of soldiers, they waited for the appointed signal, before they proceeded to act. Judas, therefore, stepped up to our Lord, and saluting him in a civil way, he kissed him. Perhaps he was foolish enough to think that he should deceive our Lord as to his motives. But Jesus shewed him that there is no possibility of deceiving Him, and said, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" There was no time for more, for the soldiers immediately obeyed their orders, and seizing hold of Jesus, made him their prisoner.

REFLECTIONS.

The calmness of our Lord's conduct, when about to encounter the bodily part of his sufferings, forms a strong contrast with that distress of mind, and agony of feeling, which he displayed when under the burden of a sense of sin and every spiritual mind will feel the guilt of sin as a greater evil than its punishment. We may also see, in the manner in which Jesus met his enemies, a proof of the effect produced by the exercise of spiritual communion with God in prayer.

The extraordinary display of the miraculous power of Christ, in striking Judas and the soldiers to the ground by a single word when they came upon him, proves certainly that he submitted willingly and freely to his ill-treatment and death: and that, as he said himself, He laid down his life, and no man took it from him. (John x. 18.) He could as easily have struck every one of his enemies dead, as make them fall to the ground, by a word but he would not exercise his power; and therefore, his atonement was a free offering for our sins, which he willingly made; and not the consequence of circumstances which he could not prevent. This both shews the power of his death, as a substitute for us; and also makes his love for sinners appear more plain and more surprising.

It also shews the wickedness of Judas, and his hardness of heart in a very dreadful point of view. Those who resist and reject the Holy Spirit, become so hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, that they cannot be influenced for good, either by fear, or by reproof. What alarm ought Judas to have felt, when he

fell to the ground upon the simple declaration of our Lord, that he was Jesus the Nazarene! What an awakening of conscience, when Christ reproved him for betraying his Master with a kiss! Yet neither of these things affected him as they ought to have done." From hardness of heart-Good Lord deliver us."

COMPENDIUMS OF SERMONS No. XVIII.
TEXT-Rev. i. 1—3.

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John; Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand."

It is often thought that the book of the Revelation is too difficult to be understood; and therefore it is much less studied than the other books of the Bible. But this is a mistake; for though there are many mysteries in it, yet there is also very much that is plain and practical; and it is especially said that it is not sealed up. Rev. xxii. 10. Dan. xii. 9. Zech. xiv. 7. Isaiah xxix. 11, 12.

It contains a communication made by Jesus Christ from heaven to his people upon earth, conveyed through the Apostle John. The first part of this communication consists of seven letters, which Jesus dictated, or ordered to be written down, by John; addressed to seven different bodies of Christians in Asia, for the benefit of the whole Church. These form the second and third chapters of the book.

It is intended to give a course of Sermons upon these seven letters; before which however it will be necessary to explain the first chapter, which gives the account of the manner in which John received the communication.

The first three verses form what may be called the TITLE PAGE. I. The name of the Book.

Revelation

1. It is called the Revelation of Jesus Christ. méans unveiling-discovering any thing that was before hidden, by lifting up the veil which hides it. In the Temple of God at Jerusalem there were two curtains, or veils; the second of which was hung up before the place called the Holy of holies, which represented Heaven. Heb. ix. 3. Exod. xxvi. 31, 33. Behind this curtain nobody ever went but the High Priest, who represented Jesus Christ. Heb. ix. 7, II, 12. Lev. xvi. 2. When Jesus Christ died upon the cross, and his soul went into the presence of God, this veil of the Temple was torn in half, to

shew that, by the death of Christ, the way to heaven was opened, and no longer hid. Matt. xxvii. 50, 51. Jesus afterwards ascended into heaven with his body, where for the present he is veiled from our sight until He come again. Heb. vi. 19. Acts i. 9-11.

This book is a discovering of Jesus in heaven; and an unveiling, or shewing forth by him, of things relating to His kingdom upon earth; which had not yet happened when he foretold them, but were about to take place; and therefore they were hid from men until revealed by God.

2. The revelation, or permission to tell these things beforehand, was given by God the Father to Christ in his character as the Mediator-the Man Jesus. Matt. xi. 27. 1 Tim. ii. 5.

3. Jesus employed an Angel to signify this revelation, or shewing of things about to happen. Psalm ciii. 20, 21.

II. The name of the writer.

1. Jesus chose the beloved disciple, John, (the only Apostle remaining alive) by whom He made the communication to His servants, the Church, to whom alone it is sent. John was about a hundred years old at this time; which was nearly seventy years after Jesus had gone into Heaven.

2. He describes himself as the person who wrote the Gospel which gives an account of Jesus as the Word of God, and of the doctrine he taught; as well as of the events of his life upon earth which John had himself witnessed. John i. 1-14; xix. 35; xxi. 24. 1 John i. 1-3.

III. The blessing promised to the reader.

1. As the book itself seems mysterious and difficult, a special blessing is placed on the very title page to induce people to read it. No other book in the Bible has so particular a blessing connected with it, nor is so strongly guarded by threatenings at the end of it. Rev. xxii. 18, 19.

2. The blessing is promised to those that read, or that hear the prophecy or unveiling read, provided they follow such of the directions it contains as are applicable to their cases and circumstances. This is repeated at the end of the book. Rev. xxii. 7.

3. A diligent study of this book and an attentive application of it, are urged upon the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the time is at hand. Rev. xxii. 6, 10, 12, 20. Rom. xiii. 11, 12. Phil. iv. 5-7. James v. 8. 1 Pet. iv. 7. 2 Pet. iii. 8. Questions for self-examination upon this Sermon.

1. Have I been prevented from reading the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, because it is too difficult to be understood? 2. Have I prayed to be able to profit by reading it?