Hour of Bereavement
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without restraint, in mourning and lamentation. By the grace of Christ,
we may be composed and even cheerful under sore trial.
Let us learn a lesson of courage and fortitude from the last interview
of Christ with His apostles. They were about to be separated. Our
Savior was entering the blood-stained path which would lead Him
to Calvary. Never was scene more trying than that through which
He was soon to pass. The apostles had heard the words of Christ
foretelling His sufferings and death, and their hearts were heavy with
sorrow, their minds distracted with doubt and fear. Yet there were no
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loud outcries; there was no abandonment of grief. Those last solemn,
momentous hours were spent by our Saviour in speaking words of
comfort and assurance to His disciples, and then all united in a hymn
of praise.—
Selected Messages 2:267, 268
.
Ellen Dreams of James Shortly After His Death
A few days since, I was pleading with the Lord for light in regard
to my duty. In the night I dreamed I was in the carriage, driving, sitting
at the right hand. Father was in the carriage, seated at my left hand.
He was very pale, but calm and composed. “Why Father,” I exclaimed,
“I am so happy to have you by my side once more! I have felt that half
of me was gone. Father, I saw you die; I saw you buried. Has the Lord
pitied me and let you come back to me again, and we work together as
we used to?”
He looked very sad. He said, “The Lord knows what is best for
you and for me. My work was very dear to me. We have made a
mistake. We have responded to urgent invitations of our brethren to
attend important meetings. We had not the heart to refuse. These
meetings have worn us both more than we were aware. Our good
brethren were gratified, but they did not realize that in these meetings
we took upon us greater burdens than at our age we could safely carry.
They will never know the result of this long-continued strain upon
us. God would have had them bear the burdens we have carried for
years. Our nervous energies have been continuously taxed, and then
our brethren misjudging our motives and not realizing our burdens
have weakened the action of the heart. I have made mistakes, the
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greatest of which was in allowing my sympathies for the people of
God to lead me to take work upon me which others should have borne.