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those earnest prayers, but for man, depraved and lost but for redeeming
grace. It was for man that the Son of God wrestled with his Father,
asking that the poor sinful creature might turn from his guilt to the
light of salvation.
The Saviour knew that his days of personal effort for men upon
earth were numbered. He who read the hearts of men knew that com-
paratively few would accept him as their Redeemer, acknowledging
themselves lost without his divine aid. The Jews were rejecting the
very help that God had sent to save them from utter ruin. They were
fastening the chains that bound them in hopeless night. They were
bringing upon themselves the certain wrath of God for their blind
and obstinate wickedness. Hence the grief of Jesus, and his tears and
strong cries for his mistaken people, who spurned his love that would
shelter them, and his mercy that would save them from the retribu-
tion of their sins. Deep emotion shakes that noble form as he keenly
realizes the doom of the people he has come to save. In every trial
and emergency, Jesus went to his Heavenly Father for help, and, in
those secret interviews, received strength for the work that lay before
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him. Christians should follow the example of their Saviour, and seek
in prayer the strength that will enable them to endure the trials and
duties of life. Prayer is the Christian’s defense, the safeguard of his
integrity and virtue.
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