Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-03-03

Sisters From That Miracle He Deduces
Lessons for the sorrowIng.
BROOKLYN, March AT the Taber-
nacle this morning the Rev. L. DE
Witt TGlmagc, d. D., said he thought
the New Brooklyn Tabernacle would
be dedicated in September, and that
the idea would be carried out of build
ing the church by subscription to The
Christian Herald, of which he has be-
come editor, all the subscriptions up
to a hundred and fifty thousand to be
paid to Mr. John Wood, treasurer of
the Tabernacle, Fulton street, near
Concord, Brooklyn, \. Y. The sub
iect Of his discourse was Revision Of
Creeds, " and he took for his text John
II, II: Loose him, and let him go"
DIR. Talmage suid:
My Bible is, ut the place of this text,
written all over with lead pencil
marks made last December at Bethany
on the ruins Of the house Of Mary and
Martha and Lazarus. We dismOunted
from orr horses on the way up from
Jordan 10 tie Dead sea. Bethany was
thG summer evening retreat of Jesus.
After spending the day IN the hot city
IF Jerusalem he would come out there
Utmost cverv evening to the house of
lis three friends l think the Occu-
lants Of that house were orphans, for
he father and mother are not men
toned. But the son and two daugh-
ters mast nave inherited property, for
itmust 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 depended
on him and were proud Of him, for
he was very popular and every
body liked him, and these girls
were splendid girls. Martha a
first rate housekeeper and Mary a
spirituellc, somewhat dreamy, but af-
fectionate, and as good girl as could
be found in all Palestine. But one
day Lazarus got sick. The sisters
were in CONSERVATION. Father gone
and mother gone, they feel very ner-
vous 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 tie characteristics OtherWhere
developed, | Judge that Martha pre-
pared the medicines and made tempt
ing dishes Of food for the poor appe-
tite of the sufferer, but Mary prayed
and sObbed. Worse and worse gets
Lazarus, until the doctor announces
that he can do no more. The shrek
that went up from that household
when the last breath had been drawn
and the two sisters We're being led by
sympathiZers into the adjoining room,
all those Of us can imagine who have
had our own hearts broken.
THE GREAT COMFORTER ARRIVES.
But why was not Jesus there as he
so often had been? Far away in the
country districts preaching, healing
other sick, how unfortunate that this
Omnipotent Doctor had not been at
that domestic crisis in Bethany. When
at last Jesus arrived in Bethany Laza-
rus had been buried four days and
dissolution had taken place In that
climate the breathless body disinte-
CRATES more rapidly than in ours. If,
Immediately after decease, that body
had been awakened into life, unbe-
levers might have said that he was
only in a cOmatCSe state, or in q sort
Of trance, and by some vigorous ma
nipulation or powerful stimulant vital
ity had been renewed. No! -Four
days dead At the door Of the sepul-
cher is a crowd of people, but the
three most memorable are Jesus, who
was the family friend, and the two
bereft sisters. We went into the ira
ditional tomb in December, and it IS
deep down and dark, and with torches
we explored it. We found it all quiet
that afternoon Of our visit, but the
day spoken Of in the Bible there was
present an excited multitude. I Won
der what Jesus will do. He orders
the door OF the grave removed, and
then he begins to descend the steps,
Mary and Martha close after him, and
the crowd after them. Deeper down
into the shadows and deeper! The hot
tears Of Jesus roll over his cheeks and
plash upon the back of his hands.
Were ever 50 many sorrows com
pressed into 50 small Il space as in that
group pressing OH down after Christ,
all the time bemoaning that he had
not come before. Now all the whis-
pering and all the crying and all the
sounds Of shutting feet are stopped.
1t is the silence OF expectancy. Death
had conquered, but now the van
uuisher of death confronted the scene.
Amid the awful hush Of the tomb the
familiar name which Christ had often
had upon his lips in the inequalities
OF the village home came back to his
tongue and with pathCs and an al
miuhtiness of which the resurrection
of the last day shall be only an echo,
he cries: Lazarus. come forth" The
eyes Of the slumberer open and he
rises and comes to the foot of the steps
and with great difficulty begins to as
cend, for the cerements of the tomb
are vet on him and his feet are fast
and his hands are fast and the inpedi-
ments to all his movements are 50 great
that Jesus commands: Take off these
cerements; remove these hindrances;
unfasten these grave clothes; loose
him and let him gOn' Oh, [ am so
glad that after the Lord raised Laza-
rus he went on and commanded the
looscning Of the cords that bound his
feet So that he could walk, and the
breaking of OF the cerement that
bound his hands 50 that he could
stretch out his arms in salutation, and
the tearing off Of the bandage from
around his jaws SO that he could
speak. What would resurrected life
have been to Lazarus if he had not
been freed from all those cripplements
OF his body? l am glad that Christ
commanded his complete emancipa-
ton, saying: Loose him, and let
him go.
i NEW PLAN FOR CREED REVISION.
The unfortunate thing now is that
SO many Christians are only half lib
Grated They have been raised from
the death and burial Of sin into spirit
ual life, but they yet have the grave
clothes on them. They are like Laza-
rus, hobbling up the stairs of the somb,
bound hand and foot, and the object
of this sermon is to help free their
body and free their soul, and [ shall
try to obey the Masters command that
comes to me and comes to every minis
ter of religion, Loose him, and let
GO" First, many are bound hand and
foot by religious creeds. Let no man
me as antagOnizing
creeds. [ have eight or ten of them;
a creed about religion, creed about
art. a creed about social life, a creed
about government, and so on. A creed
is something that a man believes,
whether it be written or unwrltten.
The Presbyterian church is now agitat-
ed about its creed. Some good men In
it are for keeping it because it was
framed from the belief of John Calvin.
Other good men in it want revision.
I am with neither party. Instead