JESUS IN GETHSEMANE.

Dear children, I wish I could tell you the story of
this sufferer you see in the picture, so that you would
never forget it.

This is Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, a place
where he often went to pray. He is alone in his sorrow,
- and we are told that his suffering was so great that drops
of bloody sweat stood on his face and fell down to the
ground. How great must have been his agony. Why
did he suffer so? I will try to tell you, so you can un-
derstand me if you will ask God to. help you.

Jesus did not suffer because he was sinful himself;
no, he never did wrong: he was pure and holy. He suf-
fered for our sins. He loved us so much that he could
not see us ruined forever. He knew,in order that we
might be saved, he must die in our stead. He knew, too,
just the agony he must endure if he died for us, and it
seemed more than he could bear, for Jesus was man as
well as God, and suffered just as we suffer.

Where we see him kneeling in prayer, he is pleading
with his Father in heaven, that if it could be possible this |
cup of suffering might pass from him. Yet he says,
“Not my will, but thine, be done.”