The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-04-14
Friends I'm Time of Sorrow.


Tt is natural to wish to have dear
friends near in an hour of triumph, 1t
is still more an instinct Of the heart to
wish this in the season of sorrow.
Jesus invited the three disciples to the
mountain top that they may behold
glory; he invited them into the depth
of the garden that they might support
him in his hour of agony.
The soul of the Saviour was exceed
ing sorrowful, even uuto death. The
hour to which he had long been look
ing forward had arrived ; bnt it proved
to be intolerably bitter.
Grief has double instinct it seeks
solitude; and Jesus removed himself a
stones cast even from the three into
the depths of the grove yet at the
same time it seeks sympathy ; it is a
relief to it to pour itself ont into will
ing ears; and, therefore, Jesus wished
them to be near, that he might 60 to
them when the state of his overcharged
heart would alloy him. The disciples
had need, besides, to pray on their own
account. They, too had reached a
crisis in their fortunes where they
might suffer shipwreck, and again and
again he urged them to watch and
pray, lest they should enter into temp
tation.
1t was golden opportunity for the
three, when they could have obtained
insight into the heart of their Master,
and might have rendered him service
which would been divinely recompen-
sed besides preparing themselves for
playing the man in the scenes which
were about to ensue. But it was lost
opportunity. They were near him in
| Gethsemane, yet they were not with
him. Jesus had invited them to de.
gree of confidence and intimacy be-
yond what they had ever yet enjoyed;
but they could not enter so far into bis
secret. We wonder especially at St.
John. He at least might have kept
awake, although the other. two had
slept. He should have filled the place
of the angel who had TO come from
heaven to strengthen the Saviour be-
cause there was not man to do it.
st. Johns loving and sensitive heart
you would have expected to be all alive
and awake when he saw the state into
which his beloved Master had fallen
But even he suceumbed to the drowsi
ness of grief; and Jesus came seeking
sympathy and comfort and found none
"Sleep on now," he said, land take
your rest"
Christ still invites US into Geth'
semane- When may he be said TO dc
so? When his cause appears to be in
desperation when the world Is al
against him, and his truth requires tc
be maintained against the organs Of
public opinion and the dead weight OF
conventionalism when to confess him
associates US with the poor and de.
spised, while those whose good opinion
we have been accustomed to enjoy
wonder at us. In circumstances o.
this description a rare opportunity is
offered of getting near to Christ
Never do we understand him so well
never does his love shine so full upon
US, as when we are sacrificing honor,
comfort, pleasure for his sake. But
too often the opportunity is lost. Self
Indulgence in some form comes in. Ii
may not be gross form the sleep Of
the deciples in Gethsemane was very
pardonable, and our self-indulgence
may be something equally innocent
1t may be the reading of book Wher
we ought to be saving soul; it may
be sitting in the comfort of home wher
we ought to be on the track of the
homeless it may be acquiescence in
the opinions and practices Of the re-
spectacle set to which we belong when
we ought to come out from them, and
at the risk of being thought odd, OF
even mad, offer our protest. A thing
in itself entirely innocent may act as
soporific-to dull the sense of duty and
smother the call of Christ-so that the
opportunity of being brought close tc
him through the fellowship of his suf
ferings is lost forever-From "The
Two st. Johns of the New Testament