The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-06-23
MA r Y.


homes, interesting by reason of the clear
intellects or the loving hearts that have
belonged to those charmed circles. 1t
would have been grand privilege, from
worldly standpoint, to have been a
member of the household of Cesar and
to have become familiar with the inward
life of that great man. 1t would have
been charming, no doubt, to have sat by
the same hearth-stone with Homer or
Pericles or Plato or Shakespeare or Hamp-
den or Walter Scott. Or better still, to
have been intimately associated with
Paul or John or even Augustine or Lu-
ther or Jeremy Taylor or Chalmers. But
of all the homes that we are permitted
to get glimpse of, it has often struck us
that there was never one that presented
the spectacle of the home of Mary and
Martha and Lazarus in Bethany, where
Christ used to repair as the rays of the
setting sun touched the hills round about
Jerusalem. Was any house ever hon
ored like this? Did any before or since
(apart from, the apostolic circle) ever en-
JOY so high a privilege as this-to be
treated as the intimate friends of Jesus /?
What wonderful words must have been
heard in that house? What converse
tions as the moon rose high over the
Mount of Olivet?
Now Jesus loved Martha, and her
sister, and Lazarus AS soon as Laza-
rus died, they sent for him; and he at
once needed their summons. 1t was
when he encountered the stricken hearts
in that household, that Jesus "wept.
The creator of the rocks and hills and
continents and seas-of the great globe
itself and all which it inherit over
charged with emotion, melts into uncon-
trollable tears at the grave of his friend |
All, if the pencil Of Raphael could have
caught that scenel
The World-Hero wept because there
were no more worlds to conquer" the
Lord of Glory wept because he was stand
ing by a grave-and doubtless in that
moment there swept across his mighty
spirit the vision of ruined world. In
his humanity Death had come home to
Him, and he took in in a moment all the
complicated tragedy of human life.
Now we feel that We have great high
priest who can be touched with the feel
ing Of our infrmities we perceive
the profound fitness of the incarnation of
the Divine Mediator. If Christianity be
an imposture, 1T was splendid concep-
ton of genius to combine the God with
the Man in offering to mankind being
whose august maj esty should be rendered
approachable by that " touch of nature"
which makes the whole world kin"
AS the child can lay its head in it's moth
er's lap, and break its little heart, so
Mary and Martha could embrace those
sacred feet and pour out their poignant
grief, with the consciousness that every
pang struck responsive chord.
Now, without Saviour of this sort,
what should the poor wreck of humanity
do? Eliminate this from Religion, and
"haI scheme oil relglon can philosophy
invent that will fit the case? Shall we
call upon Jupiter? or Ahurimazda? or
Brabma? or Baal? or shall we, with the
Buddhists, fix our eyes upon Oblivion as
the only deliverance? or shall we, with
Science, falsely socalled, surrender our
selves to the memorable processes of an
unintelligent and unintelligible physical
law? Shall we, standing by the grave
of some loved one, cry, 10 Blind Force
symPathize in the deep anguish of this
hour, and comfort with the assurances Of
thy love and grace these stricken heartsl'
The picture which we have of this
MARY is to our mind among the most
beautiful in the delineations of the Cos
pei history Some time after the raising
of Lazarus there was feast at which