CHARITY AND LONELINESS.


And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest
of these is charity.-I COR. xiii. 13.

_The possession of this Divine Charity often necessitates walking
in a lonely path._

Not merely in opposition and persecution, but _alone_ in it,
and here, again, Jesus, who was the personification of Divine lore,
stands out as our great example. He was emphatically alone, and of
the people there was none with Him. Even the disciples whom He had
drawn nearest to Him, and to whom He had tried to communicate most of
His thought and spirit, were so behind that He often had to reprove
them, and lament their obtuseness and want of sympathy. In the
greatness of His love He had to go forward into the darkness of
Gethsemane. He was alone while they slept, and then through ribaldry,
scorn, and sarcasm, to the cross. Alas! alas! almost alone, except a
few--to their everlasting honor--poor faithful women--_alone!_

And, as it was with the Master, so it has been with all those whom
God has called to go in advance of their race. It was so with John,
and with Paul, and with most of the apostles, and with all those whom
God has called to extraordinary paths since. Must John have a
revelation of things shortly to come to pass? He must go alone into
the Isle of Patmos! Must Paul hear unspeakable words, not, at that
time, lawful for a man to utter? He must go alone into the third
heaven, and not be allowed even to communicate what he saw and heard