I remember being in a meeting after the Civil War had been going on
for about six months. The army of the North had been defeated at Bull
Run; in fact, we had nothing but defeat, and it looked as though the
Republic was going to pieces; so we were much cast down and
discouraged. At this meeting every speaker for a while seemed as if he
had hung his harp upon the willow; it was one of the gloomiest
meetings I ever attended. Finally an old man with beautiful white hair
got up to speak, and his face literally shone.
"Young men," he said, "you do not talk like sons of the King. Though
it is dark just here, remember it is light somewhere else." Then he
went on to say that if it were dark all over the world, it was light
up around the Throne.
He told us he had come from the East, where a friend had described to
him how he had been up a mountain to spend the night and see the sun
rise. As the party were climbing up the mountain, and before they had
reached the summit, a storm came on. This friend said to the guide:
"I will give this up; take me back."
The guide smiled, and replied: "I think we shall get above the storm
soon."
On they went; and it was not long before they got up to where it was
as calm as any summer evening. Down in the valley a terrible storm
raged; they could hear the thunder rolling, and see the lightning's
flash; but all was serene on the mountain top.
"And so, my young friends," continued the old man, "though all is
dark around you, come a little higher, and the darkness will flee
away."
Often when I have been inclined to get discouraged, I have thought of
what he said. If you are down in the valley amidst the thick fog and
the darkness, get a little higher; get nearer to Christ, and know more
of Him.