The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-03-05
CREED REVISION.



40 Favor. ackeaee ana Gives His Rsa-
sons why AellAf Al CHRIST tho Ono
Essep,l ~ ~ Wants an
qntsttssse Church.
The subject n Rey. DR.. Talmage's re.
cBnt Discourse n fhe Brooklyn Academy
q Music Was Revision OF tho ''Creeds,' y
Iynd be took for his text John XII, a..
aLoose him and lot him CO." The elo'
quent divine spoke as follows;
My Iibls is, 81 the place Of this text,
Uritten ali over With lead pencil marks
made last Dscembar Of Bethany on the
ruins ofthe house Of Mary, and Martha,
and Lazarus We dismounted from our
horses on the way up from Jordan to the
Dead Sea. Bethany was the summer
eyening retreat Of Jesus. After spend
Ing the day In the hot city Of Jerusalem
He would come out there almost every
evening TO the house Of His three
friends. l think the occupants Of that
house we're orphans, for the father and
mother are not mentioned. But the son
and two daughters must have inherited
property, for 1t must have been, judging
from what l saw of the foundations and
the size OF the rooms, an opulent home.
Lazarus, the brother, was now the head
Of the household and his sisters de-
pended on him, for he was very popular
and everybody liked him, and these girls
we're splendid girls. Martha, first rate
housekeeper and Mary spirituelle,
somewhat dreamy, but affectionate, and
as good girl as could be found in all
Palestine. Butone day Lazarus got sick.
The sisters we're in CONSERVATION.
Father gone and mother gone, they feel
yery nervous lest they lose their brother
also. Disease did its quick work. How
the girls hung over his pillow! Not
much sleep about that house, no sleep at
all. From the characteristics otherwise
developed, Judge that Martha prepared
the medicines and made tempting dishS
Tor food for the poor appetite Of the suf-
ferer but Mary prayed and sobbed.
Worse and worse gets Lazarus, until the
Doctor announces that no can do no more.
The shrek that went up from that
household when the last breath had been
drawn and the two sisters were being
led by sympathizers into the adjoining
goom, all those OF us can imagine who
have had our own hearts broken.
But why was not Jesus there as
Ho 30 often had been? Far away
In the country districts preaching, heal
ing othersick. how unfortunate that this
doctor had not been at that
domestic crisis in Bethany. When at
last Jesus arrived in Bethany Lazarus
bad been buried four days and dissolu-
ton had taken place. In that climate
The b;cathlcss body disintegrates more
rapidly than in ours. II, Immediately
after decease, that body had been awak-
ened into life unbelievers might have
said that he was only in a comatose
state, OF In a sort Of trance, and by some
vigorous manipulation or powerful stim.
piant vitality had been renewed. No!
-Four days dead. At the door OF the
sepulcher Is crowd Of people, but the
three most memorable are Jesus, who
was the family friend, and the two be-
reft sisters. We went into the tradi-
Aonal tomb in December, and Il Il deep
down and dark, and with torches we eA.
plored IL. We found IL all quiet tina:
afternoon OF our visit, but the day
spoken Of in the Bible there was present
an excited multitude. / wonder what
Jesus will do. lie orders the door Of
the grave removed, ard then lie begins
10 descend the steps, Mary and Martha
close after Him, aid the crowd after
them. Deeper down into the shadows
and deeper! The hot tears OF Jesus roll
Drer His cheeks and plash upon the
back OF His hands. Were ever so many
sorrows compressed iSSo so small a
space rs in that group pressing on down
sfter Christ, all the timo bemoaning
Ibat He had not come before? Now
VI the whispering, and all the cry
ing and all the sounds OF shutting
Ieet are stopped. 1t is the silence
1f expectancy. Death had conquered,
but now the vanquisher OF death con-
Ironted the scene. Amid the awful
hush OF the tomb the familiar name
which Christ had often upon His lips in
Ihe hospitalities Of the village homo
.ame back 10 His tongue. and with n
pathos and an almightiness OF which
he resurrection OF the last day shall be
1nly an echo, He cries, Lazarus! come
'orthl' The eyes Of the slumberer open
Ind he rises and comes to the foot OF the
steps and with great difficulty begins TO
lscend, for the cerements OF the tomb
Ire yet on him and his feet are fast and
his hands are fast and the impediments
10 all his movements are so great that
Jesus commands: Take of these cere-
nents; remove these hindrances; m
fasten these grave clothes; loose him
and let him goi" o. ] am so glad that
after the Lord raised Lazarus He went
on and commanded the loosening OF the
cords that bound his feet so that he
could walk, and the breaking of OF the
that bound his hands 80 that
be could stretch out his arms in saluta-
lion, and the tearing of Of the bandage
from around his jaws so that he could
peak, .. What would resurrected life
rave been 70 Lazarus II he had not boon
freed from all those cripplements OF his
body2 am glad that Christ commanded
lis complete emancipation, saying:
Loose him and let him &C."
Tho unfortunate thing now is that 80
many Christians are only half liberated.
They have been raised from the dead
md burial OF sin into spiritual life, but
hey yet have the grave clothes on them.
They are like Lazarus, bobbling up the
tairs Of the tomb, bound hand and foot,