was not excited, but
she was exalted. No earthly light was in her eyes, no earthly strength
was in those triumphant tones. Death had laid his hand upon her but
she shook him off and spoke like a conqueror. I looked at her members,
and saw that every eye was fixed upon her, and that reverential fear
held them immovable. There was a clock over the mantelpiece, and it
ticked away slowly, solemnly, but no other sound disturbed the
stillness.

"I have heard some of you speak often of your crosses, and God knows
how heavy some of them have been, and how I have pitied and tried to
help you. You will not think I am boasting when I say that I have had
crosses to carry, too, but I have always endeavoured to make light of
them, and I am so glad of that to-night. Because, dear friends, I
realise very clearly now that to carry a cross that is laid upon us is
to help the Master. I think Simon was a strong, kindly man, who was
glad to carry the cross for Christ's sake. I like to think of him as
pushing his way through the crowd and saying: 'Let me help the Master:
I will gladly carry it for Him.' And I want to say this: that all
through my life when I have tried to carry my cross cheerfully the
Master has always taken the heavier end--always!

"You will go on having crosses to carry so long as ever you love the
Lord Jesus Christ; but remember this--all troubles are not crosses.
God has nothing to do with lots of our troubles. Indeed, I am not sure
that what we call a trouble is ever a cross. That only is a cross
which we carry for His sake. It is a privilege to carry a cross, and
we ought to be glad when we are selected.

"'But suppose we fall under it?' some of you may say. Listen: 'They
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.' You forgot that.
'When I am weak then I am strong.' Why? Because the good Lord never
asks us to carry a cross without giving us strength for the burden.
His grace is always sufficient for us. Never forget my words--they are
perhaps the last I shall speak as your leader, and oh, my dear friends,
how my heart yearns over you! how very dear to me is your truest
welfare!--no trouble need ever o'erwhelm you, no temptation need ever
cause you to fall, no weakness of the body need ever affect the
strength of the soul, no darkness of earth need ever shut out the light
of heaven, because--listen, 'Lo, I am with you always, even unto the
end of the world'!"

She paused, and the women, u