THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

n His body. Do you suffer under the hatred, the resentment, the animosity, the scorn and scoffing and persecution of your fellowmen? O, look to Him, who had to stand before Caiaphas and Pilate as the one most wretched, most despised, scorned, scoffed, spat upon, and assaulted with feet. Behold Him, the King of Glory, before whom even a Barabbas was preferred. Then you will receive new courage to carry your suffering and to pray: Come then take us everyone To share the suffering and the crown. He, Himself, entered through suffering into the joys of His Kingdom. Would you have it otherwise? Do you not know that the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord? (Matt. 10:24). When the pains of sickness depress you into the depths, then I direct your gaze to the cross, on which for six long hours the Saviour, Jesus Christ, hung, enduring the most awful pains in His sensitive body. And do you fall into inner temptation or sorrow of the soul? Do you have any particular heaviness upon your heart? O, see! There in Gethsemane kneels One, whose soul is sorrowful, even unto death, from whom the sweat drops of blood drip down upon the ground; there your Savior prays, wrestles, despairs and laments for you and in your place: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). And do you come into such a despairing and dark hour, that you must feel yourself forsaken by God Himself, then hear the lament out of the mouth of your crucified Redeemer: "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27 :46). Through the suffering of death our Lord is gone into glory. He is gone into heaven over Gethsemane and Golgatha. For us He has also occupied it, and through a look at our redeeming forerunner, we draw into ourselves the power of the world to come; we know: His way is our way; His going out is our going out; His goal is our goal. We know and are acquainted with the great and glorious reckoning that the Apostle Paul used in Rom. 8:18, that: “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” And when we have arrived at the goal of our journey and shall cast a look back at the afflictions and trials through which we have come in the power of the blood of Christ, when we have triumphed, and more than triumphed, because of the will of Him who loved us (Rom. 8:37), and can then sing: Pastor Wuest 219 Now have in truth we triumphed Through Jesus’ blood alone Who in the vilest hour The greatest deeds has done; yes, when once to the great: “It is finished!” which tore the veil of the temple in two from top to bottom, made the earth quake, and rent the rocks, so that the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints that were sleeping arose (Matt. 27:61-53); when to that “It is finished!” that was heard from Calvary and from there echoes back over the 1