There lies the man of many affairs, who was busy counting his money, and reaching out for more, when death appeared, and led him away to a grave. The ambitious monuments that are reared in that city do not indicate that they whose names are inscribed on them brought anything more into the grave with them, but that they left more behind them than the common lot. In death all are made equal, and rot together. The common inheritance, and the only permanent inheritance that man has this side of eternity is a grave. No wealth or power will change the nature of that grave: it is for all a place where man rots, and returns to the common dust out of which he was formed. It is an awful, inevitable truth. It is attested by the experience of all the men that have ever lived; and yet men think of everything else save the only necessary thing.

When the Lord spoke in a figure of Lazarus' death as a sleep, the disciples misunderstanding him, urge this as a reason why he should not expose himself to the danger of going into Judæa. They argue that, if Lazarus had fallen asleep, he would recover. Jesus is thereupon obliged to declare plainly that Lazarus is dead, and that he shall now go unto him. He also expresses a feeling of gladness that he was not present before the death of this man. This gladness was for the sake of the Apostles; for Jesus had now determined to call this man back out of the tomb, to confirm the faith of the Apostles, and through them to plant faith in the world.

The name Thomas is from the Aramaic

; the

Greek equivalent is Aíduμos, and the English, the twin. He was a man of generous impulse, even though he was afterwards slow to believe in the Lord's Resurrection. He fears danger in this journey of the Lord, but he exhorts his fellow Apostles to go with Jesus, that they may die with him. These generous impulses were expressed and ratified by the Apostles at various times, but yet when the day of Calvary came, they all left Jesus, and fled for their lives.

As we have before mentioned, Jesus waited till Lazarus was four days in the tomb before coming to Bethany. This was to add additional evidential force to the miracle. Jesus had at this time raised from the dead the widow's son at Naim

and the daughter of Jairus; but he destined the resurrection of Lazarus to be still more convincing. The man is now in that condition when by the laws of nature decomposition should have set in, when Jesus raises him to life. We do not believe that such decomposition had set in, because we believe that Jesus preserved the body of Lazarus from it, in anticipation of the raising of him to life.

Many witnesses are present, and the miracle is performed openly, that every man may attest its truth. The proximity of Bethany to Jerusalem, and the honorable standing of the family are reasons why so many witnesses are present. Nothing is wanting in the nature of the deed performed, nor in the testimony thereof.

When Martha hears that Jesus is coming, she can not wait till he should come to the house: she goes out to meet him. It was unfitting that both should leave the house of death at the same time; so therefore Mary remains, while Martha goes out to meet Jesus.

There is great faith in the address of this woman. Though Jesus had not come at her former message, yet she professes an absolute belief in his power. She even hopes yet, even though her brother is dead, and modestly expresses this hope in declaring that "even now I know that whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give thee." It is equivalent to saying: "My brother is dead; but thy power does not stop at death. If thou wilt, thou canst give him back to us. We believe in thy power: do as thou wilt." She expresses an unlimited faith in Jesus' power; but she only insinuates her petition for her brother's resuscitation. She feels that it would be presumption to ask for such a stupendous miracle. She is a child with the Lord, and, after the manner of children, she indirectly insinuates what she desires.

Jesus in his answer uses a certain ambiguity. He introduces the great thought of the future life into the discussion. Martha believes fully in the resurrection of the body. She recognizes the double sense of Jesus' words, and immediately professes her faith in the resurrection; but she plainly evinces in her answer that she is not content with this great hope: she wants her brother back here in this mortal life. This poor

woman pleads thus for a few more years of a brother's life; the great endless life of eternity does not content her. She makes much of this existence made up of shadows and unrealities. And Jesus is not angry at her. He knows the constitution of this heart of ours. Is a loving father angry at his child, because the child manifests a child's loves and interests? This woman is a child with Jesus, a child who knows that the great mysterious life of eternity exists but who still indirectly pleads that her dead brother be given back from death.

Jesus is going to grant her petition, but still he will make use of the occasion to develop her faith. Hitherto she had believed that he was a great prophet, a legate of God, who could obtain any petition from God. Now he formulates the great doctrine of his Divinity, and of his dominion over death. He in himself considered, without respect to any other, is the first cause of life and resurrection. Only God can say this; and Jesus said it because he was God. It must have been that the grace of God came powerfully into Martha's soul as she heard Jesus' words. How could Jesus love a creature as he did Martha without giving her the best of all gifts, the gift of divine faith? He did give it to her, and inspired thereby, she cries out that she believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah who is to come.

Jesus' declaration contains two members: those who live shall not die; and those who are dead shall live again. He promises to save the living from the power of death, and to recover the dead. Of course, these words refer to the giving of the spiritual life in the great new kingdom of Christ, from which death shall be eliminated. He ordered the resurrection of Lazarus to this greater truth, which does not force its realization in on our human minds as does the present life and the corporal death. Of what worth was the prolongation of this man's life for a few years longer, were it not ordered for a higher end? Ah, yes, it was ordered for the faith of the millions who should be born; that they might come and ask not for a few paltry years of this unhealthy existence, but for the fullness of that perfect life which Jesus has here promised.

The formula of faith in Jesus is enunciated by his own divine lips; Martha is asked to accept it; she professes it without hesitation, and then her faith is rewarded even in this life.

That formula is proposed to the whole world; the world is asked to accept it, and the great miracle is recorded, that men may give an affirmative answer to that vital question.

To some it has appeared that Martha's answer is not sufficiently in direct response to Jesus' question. To us it seems that she gives a comprehensive answer, which includes an answer to Christ's question and more. Everything is included in the confession that Jesus is the Son of God, and the Messiah. The great act of faith of Simon Peter, when he was appointed the head of the Church, was only this.

It must have been that in the interview between Jesus and Martha, Jesus had asked for his beloved child Mary. In the condensed relation of the event the Evangelist omits this detail. Martha returns to the house, and secretly advises Mary of Jesus' wish to see her. The fact that Martha communicates the matter secretly to Mary suits well with the surroundings. An open declaration of the presence of Jesus would have created an excitement not in keeping with the state of things.

We can see in the narration the fidelity of the eye-witness, who is careful to note that, when Mary went out, Jesus was in the same place where Martha had met him.

In the midst of her great grief, it is joy to Mary to know that Jesus has asked for her. She goes hastily, because great love urges her on.

The days of grief for one dead with the Jews were seven; so there were many Jews present in the house when Mary went out. Supposing that she was going to the tomb of her brother to weep there, the whole assembly followed.

see the workings of Divine Providence. They went on a false supposition; but yet they became witnesses of the great miracle, so that no man could deny it.

Mary throws herself at Jesus' feet, and sobs out the same declaration that Martha had made: "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." O, how they had waited for his coming! How they had watched the ebbing away of that

brother's life, and hoped every moment that the Master would come? Through the long watches of the night they had sat by that dying brother's side in their helpless grief, in an agony of expectation. And then the end came, and their brother was taken from them, and laid in the tomb, and no word from their divine friend. And so every day in many places in this great world the human tragedy is enacted. Jesus seems to have turned his face away from suffering man. But comfort comes at last to those who believe in him; not often here, but always beyond the gates of death, where in the joys of eternal life we may look back, and see that the trial and the sorrow was necessary for our eternal happiness beyond.

Jesus' act, as Mary fell weeping at his feet, is expressed by the Greek, ενεβριμήσατο. Εμβιμάομαι has the basic sense of to groan, but the motive of this groaning is not always the same. In many predications the verb expresses vehement indignation. Again it expresses a rebuke, or a command enforced by a threat. In the present passage, some have held that it expresses indignation and they seek various causes for this indignation. Of course, looking at human life from his high plane, it could easily be that the Lord saw something in the event that justly moved him to indignation; but we prefer to believe that the verb here expresses a great feeling of human sympathy, which Jesus experienced at the sorrow of his friends. This opinion is confirmed by the sentence immediately following: "Jesus wept." He wept tears of human sorrow, because he was a true man; and one of his friends was dead, another whom he loved was weeping at his feet.

Wherefore let no man say that it is wrong to weep at the death of those whom we love. It is wrong to despair, or rebel against God; it is wrong to sorrow as those who have no hope; but it is not wrong to allow the poor overcharged heart a vent for its grief in weeping, and for this we have the precedent of Jesus himself. This weeping of Jesus can have but one cause, whatever sense we give to the aforesaid verb; he wept in human sorrow, because he loved his friend. As regards the preceding action, if a man still wishes to see therein predicated a feeling of indignation, we believe that the most probable