The help they received, is the third thing to remember when we think
about the apostles and their work.

_The last thing to bear in mind when we think of Jesus choosing his
twelve apostles, is_--THE LESSON--_it teaches us_.

There are many lessons we might learn from this subject; but there is
one so much more important than all the rest that we may very well
let them go, and think only of this one. When St. Luke tells us about
Jesus choosing the twelve apostles, he mentions one very important
thing, of which St. Matthew, in his account of it says nothing at
all. And it is this thing from which we draw our lesson. In the
twelfth verse of the sixth chapter of his gospel, St. Luke
says--"And it came to pass in those days, that he (Jesus) went out
into a mountain to pray, and _continued all night in prayer to God_."
And after this, the first thing he did, in the morning, was to call
his disciples to him, and out of them to choose the twelve, who were
to be his apostles. And the lesson we learn from this part of the
subject is:

"The Lesson of Prayer." Jesus spent the whole night in prayer to God,
before he chose his apostles. How strange this seems to us! And yet
it is easy enough to see at least two reasons why he did this. One
was because _he loved to pray_. We know how pleasant it is for us to
meet, and talk with a person whom we love very much. But prayer
is--talking with God--telling him what we want, and asking his help.
But Jesus loved his Father in heaven, with a love deeper and stronger
than we can understand. This must have made it the most delightful of
all things for him to be engaged in prayer, or in talking with his
Father in heaven. And, if we really love Jesus, prayer will not be a