The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1886-05-06
OUR EVENING SERMON !!
Lazarus, come forth."-J ohm 11-43.

Jesus loved Mary and her sister Mar
tina - the former being she who had
anointed him with ointment, and wiped
his feet with her hair. Hearing while in
Jerusalem that the brother of Mary and
Martha, Lazarus, was sick in Bethany,
some distance off, the Savior proposed to
his disciples that they go with him into
Judea again, that he might awaken Laz-
arus from his sleep. To this his disciples
demurred, urging that if Lazarus slept
he would do well, and need not be dis
turbed. Then Jesus told them that Laz-
arus was dead. So they started to the
burial place of the dead one, yet some
with the belief that there was a strong
probability that Jesus would be stoned
to death on the journey. 1t seems that
the immediate disciples who followed the
fortunes of Jesus during his ministry
were burdened with the same doubts and
failings that Cypress his disciples now.
They could not get the idea of the all
powerful, Divine side of life, and feared
that their Master was entirely in the
power of human agencies, to be destroyed
at will. There were of course grounds
for this belief, as they could not see the
great plans of the Father, like the Son
could see them. They trusted too much
in material things-they did not thor
oughly understand the spiritual.
Large numbers of Jews had come from
time to time to offer sympathy and con-
ISOLATION to Mary and Martha over the loss
of their brother, but when the afflicted
sisters heard that Jesus was coming
Martha ran to him with that beautiful
expression of faith, Lord, if thou hadst
been here my brother had not died." At
ter talking with Jesus, she called Mary,
and the latter went to where Jesus was
and fell down at his feet with the same
expression. Then Jesus asked where
they had lain him, and they guided him
to the spot. Standing there, by the grave
of one he loved, Jesus wept. The place
was a cave, covered by stone. Jesus
ordered the people to roll the stone away,
but Martha said "Lord, by this time he
stinketh." She knew that her brother
was dead to them and to the world, and
and that in all probability the pro-
cess of material decay had set in, and it
would therefore be useless to attempt to
restore the corrupt body again. Let as
make short application of this remark
of Martha to the experiences of this gen
Grafton and time:
There are bodies walking the earth to-
day perhaps as badly afflicted as that of
Lazarus was in life, and as corrupt, per-
haps, as that of Lazarus four days after
death. In spite of the prayers and tears
Of loving sisters and friends, many
young man dies, in so far as the enjoy
ment of this world is concerned. Of
each of them it might be said, "If Christ
had been with him, he had not died." Y ct
he dies-to his friends-and is buried
away for many days in filthy sepulchre,
with the entrance closed. In every case
it may be said of him, Lord, he stink
ethp' for no smell, not even the grave of
or intensity, the stencil which is given to
the polluted, diseased human body by the
spiritual death found in the haunts of
vice known as as the saloons" At least
we may reasonably infer that the smell
was milder at the grave, for those who
were in attendance could get within fifty
yards of the grave without being sicken-
ed, and it is quite difficult for clean,
healthy body to do that with the modern
saloon. These sisters mourned their
brother as lost, and scarcely hoped to see
him again before the coming of the final
morn. Yet when Jesus
spake in loud voice, saying Lazarus,
dead Immediately arose and came forth
from the grave. The poor, diseased, pu-
trid body came forth whole.
The same Jesus who stood by the tomb
Of Lazarus and wept, and afterward
brought forth the dead, stands ready to-
lay to restore the bodies of the brothers
who are dragged down to what seems to
be fully as great a process of decay as
that in which Christ found Lazarus.
of sisters may truthfully say
to-day, Lord, my brother stinketh.'
Many brother is reeling and tumbling
about the streets and highways compared
with whose bodies the decomposition of
They have Z rot only been dead for four
lays, but some of them have been dead
and in process of decomposition forty
years. Friends weep, neighbors hold
their nostrils and weep, in the hope that
these poor, decomposed bodies will be
called forth from the thralldom of the.
lingering death. And the only hope
seems to be the call of Christ. The dis
ciples feared the stoning of the Savior
when he went to raise Lazarus; the good
spirit that would strive to lift up one of
these fallen creatures would be assailed
with vile epithets, and all manner Of
abuse. Death had seized Lazarus; a
worse foe than mere Death has grasped
the lives of many of our young men, and
retains its hold upon many of the old
men, of to-day. We may not be able to
raise the dead, but we can at least roll
the stone away from each grave, that
there may be an opportunity for the poor
body to rise. The voice of the Savior is
ever calling for these diseased bodies to
of men,. We can all roll away the stones,
by bestowing upon the unfortunate ones
a kindly attention, and attempting to
awaken them to sense of the presence
of the great physician.
Not poor body falls into the grave
but leaves some friend, some heart to feel
a pang of sorrow. The ties of human af-
fection are so strong that no matter how
bad the life, there still shoulders ray of
love for the unfortunate one, still
shadow of hope that Jesus will yet, ere it
seems too late, speak to that life the word
of command to come forth, out of its cor
ruption, into the purity of the life of
out of its darkness into
the marvellous light of the truth of the