g against uncertainty. He can not tell at once whether a dark
object is a dangerous spy or a browsing Brindle. Sounds must be noted
and sorted lest the enemy steal up to the slumbering army and destroy
it. The snapping of twigs, the low whistle of a bird, the groan of the
wind, the murmur of a waterfall must all be listened to with care.

EVIL TIDINGS.

It is suspense and a nameless dread and fear that sap many a mind and
heart. Moments of breathless expectancy of evil tidings are like years
in the life, bringing ashes to the hair, lines to the cheek and
listlessness to the eye.

THE PALLED FACE.

"Be sure you are right, then go ahead," said Tennesseean Crockett; but
supposing that one can not "be sure" of anything except the love of
God, supposing that one looks out through the tangled limbs of the
olive trees of a Gethsemane to a sky studded with pitiless stars,
supposing that the future is obscure and the present black as Styx,
supposing that even the face of the Father Himself is palled and
curtained--then must one be content to trust and only trust.

THREE DISCIPLES

There was another cause for pain in "the Garden." The three disciples,
whom He had chosen to accompany Him in His dark and lonely vigil, slept
as He prayed. We can bring ourselves to overlook the negligence and
apathy of Nicodemus and Lazarus and Simon the leper and Zaccheus and
the crowds who had merely heard Him preach. We are willing perhaps to
excuse eight of the twelve for their drowsiness--perchance they did not
apprehend the full meaning of the hour to the Master. But there were
three disciples to whom Christ had ever laid bare His heart. With Him
they stood in the death chamber in the house of Jairus. To them it was
given to behold "the vision splendid" on the mount of transfiguration,
and these alone Jesus chose to enter into the fellowship of his Garden
sufferings.

NO EXCUSE.

These men did not nod and sleep ignorant of Christ's need of them. With
that tender confidence with which a truly great and colossal man
sometimes honors his friends, He had said, "My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death." He had warned them with the words, "Watch
and pray lest ye enter into temptation," and yet they slept!

"OUR OWN AFFAIRS."

It must have been a keen disappointment to Jesus to find His most
trusted friends so indifferent to His needs. Is there anything in life
sadder than the discovery that our own affairs are really only our own