Page:Morning, or, Action.pdf/12

Rh The presence of God, and the aids of his Holy Spirit, have always been the consolation of good men in their afflictions. They experienced the fulfilment of these promises. “As thy days are, so shall thy strength be. When thou goest through the waters, I will go with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. Our fathers trusted in thee,” saith the Psalmist, “they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.”—

But in the sufferings, endured by the Redeemer in the garden, and on the cross, God departed from him, and the divine presence was withdrawn.

Christians! what an hour was that, which our Saviour passed in the garden of Gethsemane! In the time of his passion, his torments succeeded one another. He was not at the same time betrayed, mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns, pierced with a spear, extended on a cross, and forsaken by his Father; but here all these torments rose before him at once all his pains were united together: what he was to endure in sucession, now crowded into one, moment, and his soul was overcome. At this time, too, the powers of darkness, it should seem, were permitted to work upon his imagination to disturb his Spirit, and make the vale through which he was to pass appear more dark and gloomy.

Add to this, that our Saviuor having now