Matthew 14:22-23

"And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. (23) And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone."

Those retirings of the Lord are sweet incidents in his life, and they are held forth to the Church in strong endearments of character. But who shall undertake to describe them? Who shall take upon them to say, what passed in those hallowed seasons between Christ in his Mediator-character and the Father? We read of the transfiguration, Matthew 17:1. We read also of his agony in the garden, Luke 22:41. But here we pause. Every circumstance in the life of Jesus is, and must be, pregnant with somewhat great, but oar part is in silence, and holy awe, to exercise our contemplation!