Such promises and hopes have supported the "noble army of martyrs," who in the early ages of the Church suffered tortures, and died the most cruel death, rather than give up, or even pretend to give up, their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The same spirit should be in us: we are not called to martyrdom as were the holy men of old; but should the Lord allow it to be so again, should we be ready so to suffer for our religion? But let us ask ourselves another question, of more practical importance at the present time: Are we willing to give up anything for the sake of pleasing Jesus? Do we give up our own wishes and pleasures to please Him, Who bids us deny ourselves? Do we try to conquer our evil tempers, passions, and inclinations, because He has said, "Resist the Devil"? If we have anything like the spirit which guided the martyrs, we shall force ourselves to be attentive and industrious, when we feel careless and idle: obedient, when we feel wilful and perverse; kind and generous, when we feel selfish: gentle and patient, when we feel cross and irritable; and so on. This is no easy task; no easy life. But we must remember Christ's warning, that those who will be His faithful servants, must meet with difficulties and hindrances in their way. Let us then pray for the Holy Spirit, to teach, and guide, and support us; so that, our hearts being filled with faith and love, we "may never be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto our life's end."
When Jesus had said these things, He lifted up His eyes to Heaven, and prayed to His Father, to support Him through the coming trial; so that He might glorify the Father, by securing the salvation of men. Then Jesus prayed for the disciples who did already believe in Him, and besought that they might be kept in His faith and love, and enabled to teach others all that He had taught them.
Our Lord also prayed for all who should in after times learn true religion from the teaching or writings of the Apostles, and so become one of them, by having the same faith, the same wish to glorify God by obedience to His holy Will. For all who do thus join themselves to Him, Jesus prayed that they may be with Him in heaven. Our blessed Lord thus prayed for us, and for all His followers in every age: and He still prays for us, and intercedes for us in heaven. All Christians are now one body, of which Christ is the Head; one vine, of which Christ is the root; one flock, of which Christ is the Shepherd.
We call this body the Church of Christ; by Baptism we are taken into this Church, and made part of this body; therefore, we must try always to know and do the Will of our Head.
When Jesus had ended His prayer, He saith unto the disciples, "All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee."
By being "offended," Jesus meant that they would be afraid to own Him as their Master, and would forsake Him: but to show them that He would not punish their weakness by casting them off for ever, He told them where they might see Him again, after He should have risen from the dead.
Notwithstanding the warnings already received, Peter was still full of self-confidence, and "answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended." Why should Peter have thought himself more likely than others to do right? Why should any of us think so? Whenever we do thus depend upon ourselves to do right, we are almost sure to fall into sin, for the Devil takes advantage of our pride and self-conceit, to tempt us; and then God frequently leaves us to ourselves, that from our fall we may learn by painful experience our exceeding weakness and sinfulness. Jesus now showed Peter, that though he thought himself so safe, he would do worse than his fellow disciples; for "he saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter spake the more vehemently, and said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said all the disciples."
Poor Peter little knew himself! No doubt he and all the disciples felt what they now said: but if men would bear in mind their weakness and proneness to sin, they would never feel sure of not doing wrong; but would watch and pray, so that the Devil may get no advantage over them. "When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples" from the place on the Mount of Olives, where they were, "unto a place called Gethsemane, over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. And Judas also knew the place, for Jesus oft-times resorted thither with his disciples." Having entered into this garden with the eleven disciples, Jesus saith unto eight of them, "Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he taketh with him Peter, and James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, and when he was at the place" to which he had intended to go, "he began to be sorrowful, and sore amazed, and to be very heavy."
Now began the mysterious, and most bitter part of our blessed Lord's sufferings for sinful man. What those sufferings were, we do not exactly know: they were not bodily, but spiritual; his soul suffered such agony, as we can form little idea of: we only know that sin, the sin of man, our sin, caused His sufferings; and that the holy and righteous Lord now bore for our sakes, all the agony that is the fruit of sin. It seems likely that at this time the Devil and his evil spirits again attacked Jesus, and tried by every means in their power to prevail upon Him not to finish His work, even the salvation of man, but to spare Himself, and leave His guilty creatures to the fearful consequences of their sins. In His agony, prayer was our Lord's refuge; and feeling the necessity of being alone with God, that He might freely pour out His soul before Him, "he saith unto the three who accompanied him, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with me." Thus He asked them to help Him with their prayers; setting, in His human nature, an example for all men to follow. Then, knowing the power and malice of the Devil, Jesus added a caution to pray for themselves, that they might not be led into sin, by any temptation which should come upon them; "he saith unto them Pray, that ye enter not into temptation."