When He had ended His
discourse to them, "he lifted up his eyes to heaven," and with the
words which I have now read, began that solemn prayer of intercession
for the Church, which closed His ministry. Immediately after, He went
forth with His disciples into the garden of Gethsemane and surrendered
Himself to those who came to apprehend Him.
Such was the situation of our Lord at the time of His pronouncing
these words. He saw His mission on the point of being accomplished.
He had the prospect full before Him of all that He was about to
suffer--"Father! the hour is come." What hour? An hour the most
critical, the most pregnant with great events, since hours had begun
to be numbered, since time had begun to run. It was the hour at which
the Son of God was to terminate the labors of His important life by a
death still more important and illustrious; the hour of atoning, by
His sufferings, for the guilt of mankind; the hour of accomplishing
prophecies, types, and symbols, which had been carried on through a
series of ages; the hour of concluding the old and of introducing into
the world the new dispensation of religion; the hour of His triumphing
over the world, and death, and hell; the hour of His creating that
spiritual kingdom which is to last forever.
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