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earnestly exhorted them to make use of the same pre&ej > vo tive and remedy , of watchfulness and prayer , which he himself now did . ^ - He goes on to add : cc The spirit indeed i § willing , i * ut ,
the flesh is weak / ' This clause hath been generally cojisi- ; dered , as designed to suggest a gracious plea , or excuse for the disciple ? under their present drowsy frame . But , per * haps , it ought rather to be considered , as-containing a motive to enforce the preceding exhortation to watchfulness and prayer- He allo \ ys > that the real purpose of their hearts w . aa .
well inclined to perform their duty ; and that , when they ih $ d just before declared their determined attachment to him , even unto death , they had expressed only their trqe sentiments . But right purposes and dispositions alone were not an effect tual security . The flesh is weak j and even its innoqent infirmities and reluctances against sufferings and death miglit : occasion their being betrayed into unfaithfulness and apostacyj therefore they still had need of all the additional support ^
of watchfulness and prayer for divine assistance , lest they should be overcome by temptation . When , we consider the situation in which our . Lord was ., when he delivered this caution , it seems to derive from it an inexpressible energy and pathos . He who said , The spirit , truly is willing , but the flesh is weak /'; did , at , the * instant he said so , suffer a most violent perturbation of his whole
animal frame , which occasioned such distress and" anxiety of spirit , as caused him to cry out > cc My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death , " and consequently was subjected through this weakness of the flesh , to a most severe trial of the constancy of his submission to the will of God .
Having said thus to the three disciples , he went away , again the second time , and prayed , saying ; cc O my Father , if this cup may not pass away from ijie , except I drink it , thy will be done /* This is mu . ch of the same import as hrs former petition had been ; and therefore St . Mark says , " he prayed , saying the same words / ' He then returned to his
disciples , and , as St , Mark observes , he found them asleep again ; for their eyes " were heavy , neither wist they what to answer him . ' * We are . not told , indeed , that he said any thing to them this second time . . . . But finding the parpxysip of his mental and bodily di «^ tress riot ^ t al l relieved , jhe \ p £ tt \ iexxi 9 &nd went away again ,
and prayed the thitd time , saying the , same , vtomis * St . ILufce adds further < " Bfeing in an agony he prayed more earnestly .
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Our Lord ' s Agony in the Garden . 375
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1807, page 375, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2382/page/35/
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