The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-17

believe that Thou didst send me-" As And
when he had thus spoken, he cried with loud
voice, Lazarus, come forth" "A He. that
had been dead came forth, bound hand and
foot with grave-clothes, and his face was
bound about with napkin. JESUS saith
unto them, "Loose him, and let him go"
The restoration of Lazarus to life and to
his family and friends, was demonstration
to Martha's senses of the truth of JESUS
teaching respecting the dead, that they still
live. JESUS by the divine power with which
he was endowed, summoned the living spirit
to -inhabit the body from which it had been
separated. 1t was not resurrection in the
proper sense but a restoration of life in the
body, and proof that the departed soul is
not dead, but alive, and in a condition to
hear and obey the call of JESUS, who is Lord
of both the dead and living 1t may be re-
ceived as a token or symbol of the truth.
Indeed, all the miracles of JESUS are of
deepest significance as symbols rather than
realities. They we're, so to speak, the meta
phors of his life, as the parallels we're of
his teaching. By this work he demonstrated
his divine benevolence and profound SYM
pathy for the distressed family, and at the
same time confirmed an important truth of
his ministry to the world, that what is called
death is not the end of existence; and also
exhibited an unquestionable sign of his
authority as a "teacher sent from GOD"
Truly no man can do such works except GoD
be with him. 1t is useless to attempt an ex-
PLANTATION of what is SO manifestly beyond
our present knowledge or even comprehen-
sion. We know but little concerning death
and its processes. We do know something
of the power OF human sympathy to sustain
life, and to suspend and delay the departure
of the spirits of dearly loved ones. To one
who knew life and death and all their mystic
rious processes, and endowed with all the
power of divine sympathy and spiritual
afinities, the laying down and taking again
of life, or the restoring of life to another,
may be as comprehensive and commonplace
as sleeping and waking, or the waking of an
other out of sleep, is to our present knowl-
edge and comprehension.
The body of Lazarus was carefully placed
in tomb. Its condition after four days,
implied in Martha's language, was only sup
posed. The spirit was alive, We know not
where or how near. The Lord of souls, who
dwelt in the region of the spiritual, and who
was richly endowed with all spiritual knowl-
edge and power, was present The Divine
Power was invoked, the departed spirit was
summoned. The friend and brother that
was dead came forth alive. COP was glori-
fed. and the Son of COP was manifested in
the mighty work and power over death.
The temperance of Lazarus proves:
That Death is not what it is supposed to be,
is not the extinction of the personal life, nor
even such a destruction of its connection
with the body, but that one, dying as Lazarus
did, bound by the mysterious and vital tie of
love and faith to one like JESUS, in whom
dwelt life without measure, was not SO sever
ed from JESUS but that, even after he had
been four days wrapped in the last slumber,
he could hear, and, hearing, obey the voice
of his friend. Just as he took the being
of COP for granted, so did JESUS assume
that Lazaras was still living, and so to him
he called aloud to return to life. Not to the
body, but to the mind, to the personality,
did he address himself.-ReU. w. III. Furness,
d. d.
Bear in mind that our knowledge of the
process of death is for the most part very
superficial and outside knowledge. That
it does not take place instantaneously is rea-
sonable in itself, and facts are abundant
which go to prove it. There is an in
terval, longer or shorter, between the last
streak of our earthly twilight and the first
CLEAN of the new morning sky. We know
this, for hundreds have passed into it without
touching finally the shore beyond, and come
back to this natural life again. 1t is longer
or shorter, according to precedent conditions,
physical and spiritual. Instances are
reported, where this interval has been pro-
longed throus h several days.
1t is also true that the process of death is
prolonged, and even postponed by the cling
ing sympathies of friends. That there
may be sympathy SO divinely strong as to
postpone the final extrication of the spiritual
body from the natural, is certainly conceiv-
able under the same law of mental and spirit
ual action.
We must think of the mighty power,
even of our poor human affection, over those
who are near to US when struggling in the
grasp of death; how it holds them in the
body and will not let them go; how, some
times, after the eyes are closed, and the
pulses are still, and the shroud has been put
on, affection will hold them in ties that can
not break, and in some cases we'll certified,
has OWNED the fact that the spirit was still
there, and called it back to life. Think, then,
what the power of the Saviours love must
have been, when acting under like condi-
tions! Bear in mind, too, that the sympa-
thies of JESUS were SO persuasive and strong
that space and distance often vanish, and the
sorrows aud pains of those who were miles
away are drawn up into his heart, and healing
power sent forth to restore them. JESUS
was twenty-five miles off beyond the Jordan
when Lazarus sickened and died. But in
heart and spirit he is at Bethany also, and
knows the progress of the disease by the
throbs and disturbances which a heart both
great and tender feels along its hidden chords
=. "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, and go
to awake him. He could not call it death.
for he was still conscious that he held him in
his power, and held him to this world in the
mighty embrace of his love, and only for the
dull perception of his disciples he says,
Lazarus is dead.'' 1t lis hardly strange
that the spirit came back to its consciousness
in the flesh when it had been held to the
world and within its fieshy organism by sym
pathies so divinely strong.-E. FL. Sears,
"The Heart of CHRIsT.'