The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-10
Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite

Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite
Beg ond it,
must always have had for the soul of JESUS
an especial charm; and the more go because
of the friends whose love and reverence al
ways placed at his disposal their holy and
happy home.-Fdrror, "Life of CHRIST"
He sought the soothing intercourse of per-
sonal friendship in the retreats of social and
domestic love. How many of these friend
chips must have been formed among the fam
lilies in and around Jerusalem who had be-
come receptive of his word and believed in
his Messiahship! About two miles east of
Jerusalem, beyond the Mount of Olives, and
on the road to Jericho, was one of these fam
lilies, evidently in middle or humble life, to
which JESUS resorted for safety, repose and
the intercourse of personal love. Lazarus
and his two sisters not only had faith in him,
but had become endeared to him by offices
of hospitality and affection. They must have
been among his earlier converts and his dis
cipies, for when Luke introduces them to our
notice at this time, we find their intercourse
to be of the most sacred and confidential ma
ture. The characters are individualized by a
few unconscious strokes of the pen. Mary
sits at his feet, lost to everything beside, as
she drinks the wisdom from his lips. Martha
IS the more anxious and careful, lest the COM
fort of guest so honored and beloved will
not be attended to. JESUS puts them both at
hgion and of himself. A delightful picture
of tranquility and rest, after the stormy con-
troversies of tho Temple!-Sedrs "Heart of
CHRIST"
Bethany possesses an unusual charm as the
place, where more than any other, JESUS loved
to dwell and enjoy domestic life. There was
a house of peace, with three children of
peace, where the Prince of Peace went in
and out as a friend. There he received the
hospitable attentions of the busy Martha and
commended the contemplative Mary luke
K. 3eff); there he performed bis greatest mir
acle on their brother Lazarus and proved
himself to be the Resurrection and the Life;
there Mary anointed him against the day of
his burial; from Bethany he commenced his
triumphant entrance into Jerusalem; to Beth
any he resorted for the rest of the night dur
ing the few days before his erucifxion; and
near this village he loved SO we'll he assembled
into heaven.-Dr. Schof, in Lange's Com
nentGTy.
(1-10) Not long before his retirement be-
yond Jordan, probably when he came up to
the Feast of Dedication December, A. d,
29), JESUS enjoyed the hospitality of this
home, when Martha served and Mary sat at
his feet. We have no account of Lazarus till
the messengers bring the report of his sick
of Olivet to Bethany beyond Jordan the mes
sage comes: "He whom thou lowest is sick"
1t was call of the distressed for the sympa-
thy of sacred friendship. Not only the sym
patty of JESUS was awakened by the touch
ingly sad message from the beloved family,
but the Divine energy with which he was en-
dowed was aroused to the doing of mighty
work of GoD and SO he replied: The sickness
will not finally end in death, but shall be an
occasion for manifesting the Divine Power
that dwells so richly in the Son of Man. The
reply is similar in meaning to that which he
made to his dis ciples who inquired concern
ing the man who was born blind: "Neither
this man nor his parents sinned but that the
works of COP may be manifest in him."
"This sickness is not unto death, but for the
glory of Cop, that the Son of Man may be
glorifed thereby" He delayed his going
two days, not because of any want of sym
pathy for the distressed family, we may as
sumo, but because of the pressing duties in
the place where he was, for we know that
many believed on him there Cx 42). When,
however, he proposed to depart for Judea,
the disciples, remembering the angry deter
mination and former attempt of the Jews to
take his life, attempted to dissuade him from
his purpose. But, with a similar use of the
figure of day to that by which he justified his
work upon the blind man Xix. A, 81, he re-
piled that he must walk in the light of every
hour of the day of his duty; whoever walked
in such light would be preserved. Whoever
shuns duty to save his life, will be more liza
BILE to lose it, while he who exposes his life to
danger in the way of divine duty will be
most likely to preserve it (See Matthew xvi.
25).