And thus it is with many a man in the hour of temptation.  The voice of sin speaks not loudly, but whispers to his inner spirit.  He pursues his path of evil without alarm being given by sight or sound from heaven or earth.  There is nothing in the world without to disturb the thoughts and purposes of the world within his false and unprincipled soul.  The moment of his life brings the temptation, and he yields his soul to its power, and the moment passes with as noiseless a step; and soon the last moment comes, and passes away; but he too has noiselessly passed away with it “to his own place!”

The “moment in life” when we are called upon to perform some positive duty, is one which is often very critical and full of solemn consequences to us.  The duty may appear to be a very trifling one,—­such as writing a letter, visiting a friend, warning some brother against evil, aiding another, or sympathising with a sufferer in his sorrow.  But whatever the work may be, and in whatever way it is to be performed, whether by word or deed, by silence or by speech, yet there is a time given us for doing it, very brief perhaps, and unaccompanied by any sign to mark its significance,—­a time, nevertheless, when whatever has to be done must be done quickly, “now or never.”

Such a moment in life was that in the history of the three apostles who accompanied our Lord, at His own request, in order to watch with Him in His last agony.  As a man, He deserved their thoughtful presence, their watchful sympathy, when enduring the dread sorrow which filled His cup, from realising by anticipation all that was before Him.  Thrice He came to them from the spot, not far off, where He wrestled in prayer with His terrible agony.

Thrice He found them asleep.  “What!” he asked, “could ye not watch with me one hour?” Ah! they knew not what an hour that was!—­what it was to Him—­what it was and might have been to them!  They might have had the joy, the exalted privilege, which for ever would have been as a very heaven of glory in their memory, of sharing, through the power of sympathising love, the burden of their Lord’s anguish.  But they yielded to the flesh, and permitted that moment of time to pass; and when they at last roused themselves from their slumber, it was too late.  That moment in life had come and gone, and could return no more.  “Sleep on, and take your rest; behold, he who betrayeth me is at hand!”

And thus it often happens in the life of us all.  An hour is given us when something may be done for our Lord or our brethren, which cannot possibly be done if that hour is permitted to pass away unimproved.  Then we may teach an ignorant soul, or rouse a slothful one to action; we may alarm one who is lethargic, worldly, sensual, “without God or Christ in the world,” so as to win him to both; or we may comfort the feeble-minded, and support the weak.  Circumstances may give us the opportunity, and the “moment in life,” when such works may be