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." Chapter XXXIV.--JESUS BETRAYED. When Jesus had cautioned Peter, James and John, to watch and pray, "he went forward a little, and was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed"; in the earnestness of His prayer, "he fell on his face on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him." It was not the death upon the cross which Jesus prayed might pass from Him: human martyrs have borne bodily sufferings and cruel deaths, supported by the grace of God; and though in His human nature Christ might well shrink from the pain of Crucifixion, He was ready to give His body for our redemption.