f which we have record.

Its primary characteristic is _timelessness_. Though uttered within a
few hours of Calvary, it contains thoughts and expressions which must
have been familiar to our Lord at any moment during the centuries which
have followed. As we study it, therefore, we are listening to words
which have been uttered many times on our behalf, and will be uttered
until we are with Him, where He is, beholding the glory of the Divine
Son, superadded to that of the Perfect Servant.

The R. V. margin substitutes the word _consecrate_ for _sanctify_, and
it probably conveys a better meaning, because devotion to the will of
God is prominent, rather than the holiness of personal character.
Devotion to God's will is the primary thought suggested by the word;
but of course it involves a blameless and spotless character. Thus we
might read the words, "For their sakes I consecrate Myself, that they
also may be consecrated in truth." Through the dim twilight the Lord
clearly foresaw what was awaiting Him--the agony and bloody sweat, the
cross and passion, the foresakenness and travail of His soul. The
cross with out-stretched arms waited to receive Him; the midnight
darkness to engulf Him, the murderous band to wreak their hate on the
unresisting Lamb--and yet He flinched not, but went right forward,
consecrating Himself.

"Twas thus He suffered, though a Son,
Foreknowing, choosing, tasting all,
Until the dreadful work was done
And drank the bitter cup of gall."

I. THE SUBJECTS OF CHRIST'S SOLICITUDE.--In the earlier verses the Lord
speaks of Himself, of His finished work, of the glory which He had
left, of that to which He went, asking only that He might be able to
glorify the Father in every movement of His coming sorrow (1-5).

Then He launches Himself on the full current of intercession, and
pleads for those who had been given to Him, as distinguished from the
world of men out of which they had come. Evidently the same thought
was in His mind as inspired His words in John x., when He spoke of the
sheep whom the Father had given to Him, that He might give them eternal
life (27-29). And it may be that each of these two utterances was
inspired by older words yet, that Zechariah had addressed to the poor
of the flock when he cut asunder his two slaves, Beauty and Bands
(Zech. xi. 7-14).

The underlying conception in all these passages seems to be that the
Father has entrusted to the special ke