uller treatment of this incident, see Chapter XI.

CHAPTER XI.

JESUS COMFORTING HIS FRIENDS.

Not all regret, the face will shine
Upon me while I muse alone;
And that dear voice, I once have known,
Still speak to me of me and mine:

Yet less of sorrow lives in me
For days of happy commune dead;
Less yearning for the friendship fled,
Than some strong bond which is to be.
TENNYSON.

A gospel with no comfort for sorrow would not meet the deepest needs of
human hearts. If Jesus were a friend only for bright hours, there
would be much of experience into which he could not enter. But the
gospel breathes comfort on every page; and Jesus is a friend for lonely
hours and times of grief and pain, as well as for sunny paths and days
of gladness and song. He went to a marriage feast, and wrought his
first miracle to prolong the festivity; but he went also to the home of
grief, and turned its sorrow into joy.

It is well worth our while to study Jesus as a comforter, to learn how
he comforted his friends. For one thing, it will teach us how to find
consolation when we are in trouble. This is a point at which, with
many Christians, the gospel seems oftenest to fail. In the days of the
unbroken circle and of human gladness, the friends of Jesus rejoice in
his love, and walk in his light with songs; but when ties are broken,
and grief enters the home, the hearts that were so full of praise
refuse to take the consolation of the gospel. This ought not so to be.
If we knew Christ as a comforter, we would sing our songs of trust even
in the night.

Another help that we may get from such a study of Jesus will be power
to become a true comforter of others. This every Christian should seek
to be, but this very few Christians really are. Most of us would
better stay away altogether from our friends in their times of sorrow,
than go to them as we do. Instead of being comforters to make them
stronger to endure, we only make their grief seem bitterer, and their
loss more unendurable, doing them harm instead of good. This is
because we have not learned the art of giving comfort. Our Master
should be our teacher; and if we study his method, we shall know how to
be a blessing to our friends in their times of loss and pain.

Much of the ministry of Jesus was with those who were in trouble.
There was one special occasion, however, when there was a great sorrow
in the