DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 24TH, 1869, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34. OUR Lord was at that moment enduring the first pains of crucifixion; the executioners had just then driven the nails through his hands and feet. He must have been, moreover, greatly depressed, and brought into a condition of extreme weakness by the agony of the night in Gethsemane, and by the scourgings and cruel mockings which he had endured all through the morning, from Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, and the Praetorian guards. Yet neither the weakness of the past, nor the pain of the present, could prevent him from continuing in prayer. The lamb of God was silent to men, but he was not silent to God. Dumb as a sheep before her shearers, he had not a word to say in his own defense to man, but he continues in his heart crying unto his Father, and no pain and no weakness can silence his holy supplications. Beloved, what an example our Lord herein presents to us! Let us continue in prayer so long as our heart beats; let no excess of suffering drive us away from the throne of grace, but rather let it drive us closer to it. Long as they live should Christians pray, For only while they pray they live. To cease from prayer is to renounce the consolations which our case requires...
