true, but I only go to prepare a place in My Father's house.

"I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you." "Before we separate, I give you this commandment, That ye love one another as I have loved you.' I will not now call you servants, but friends. Remain in Me, and I in you. I am the Vine; ye are the branches. A little while, and you shall not see Me. Peace I leave with you, peace I give unto you, and I will send you the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Remember My word that I said unto you: The servant is not greater than his lord; if they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but have confidence, I have overcome the world.” Such was the Saviour's farewell. How many tears must the disciples have shed while listening to these parting words of the Lord, Who spake them then for the last time!

Afterwards they saw Him raising His eyes to heaven, and heard Him saying: "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee. I have glorified Thee upon the earth. I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. I have manifested Thy name

to men, and now, glorify Thou "Me, O Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee, before the world was."

"Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, whom Thou hast given Me. Sanctify them in truth. And not for them only do I pray, but for those also who through their word shall believe in Me."

Here He prayed for all mankind, that His word might not be frustrated, that His toils and His sufferings might not be without fruit; "that they may be in Me as I am in Thee, and that they may be one as We are also one."

For this am I come to establish perpetual love, eternal union between men and the Father. "Jesus then goes to the Mount of Olives." Jesus at length concluded this discourse, which He had protracted to some length, as though He found it difficult to leave His disciples. He then departed and took His way towards the Mount of Olives. It was night; Jerusalem lay hushed and silent, darkness covered the city and the mountain. The disciples walked on within a few paces of their divine Master without speaking a word.

Their way led them through one of the city

gates, down the steep sides of the ravine, across the stream Kedron, and up the green slope beyond it. We are told but of one incident in that last and memorable walk through the midnight to the familiar garden of dark Gethsemane. It was a last warning to the disciples in general, to St. Peter in particular. It may be that the dimness, the silence, the desertion of their position, the dull echo of their footsteps, the agonizing sense that treachery was even now at work, was beginning already to make them afraid; sadly did Jesus turn and say to them that on that very night they should all be offended in Him, and the old prophecy should be fulfilled, “I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad." And yet, in spite of all, as a shepherd would He go before them leading the way to Galilee.

They all declared their love and loyalty to Him, but Peter was loudest and most sympathetic in his loyalty. Even if all should be offended, yet never would he be offended.

And Jesus only listened in mournful silence to vows which should so soon be scattered into air.

"Jesus goes into Gethsemane."

So they

came to Gethsemane, which is about half a mile from the city walls. It is stated by the sacred writers that on going into the garden He left eight of His disciples at the entrance, and that He took with Him the chosen, favored three, Peter, James, and John, and went further into the garden. It is also said, that then He "began to be sorrowful, and very heavy," and He said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."

Then He withdrew from the three disciples, and there, alone with God, He bowed Himself to the earth, and prayed, saying, “O, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me." And after offering this earnest prayer, He returned to his disciples, and found them asleep, and said to Peter, "What! could ye not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation."

Then He went away again, "and being in agony He prayed more earnestly, and He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground." In the depth of His agony, "there appeared unto Him an angel from heaven strengthening Him."

We are not told what the angel said to Him.

No doubt he brought to Him some tender, loving words from His Father in heaven, to comfort and encourage Him. Jesus returned to His disciples again, and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

He then went away and prayed again, saying, "O, Father, if this cup may not pass from Me except I drink it, Thy will be done."

He returned the third time to His disciples and 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 us go hence."

And immediately after He had spoken these words, Judas appeared, and with him a band of men who came to take Him a prisoner.

These are the facts told us by the evangelists respecting Jesus and His agony in Gethsemane. They are wonderful facts, and the scene which they set before us in our Saviour's life is one of the most solemn and awful that ever was witnessed in this old world.

"The kiss of Judas.”

When Judas and the band of soldiers arrived, Jesus advanced to meet them, and said, "Whom seek ye?" The question was not without an