Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-12-25
THE LIFE FROM THE DEAD
LESSON XII, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATlO NAL SERIES, DEC. 27.

TERNATloNAL SERIES, DEC. 27.
Review of the Quarter-.From the Raising
of Lazarus to the Last Appearance To
the Disciples the Great Theme Is Inn
mortality Through Christ.
"Sad | not unto thee that If thou
RoUldst believe thou shoudst see the glory
Of God" Such is the sublime declaration
IF Jesus in the first lesson of the quarter
now closing 1t was spoken to Martha, the
sister of Lazarus 1t was IA promise that
Gods power should be manifested in rails
ing her brother when he had been dead
four days, and it was followed Immediately
by the gracious miracle. The Jews that
stood by had asked of each other whether
this man which opened the eyes of the blind
could not have prevented this death. 1t is
plain that neither they nor the sorrowing
sisters had INDUCED any hope that the dead
Lazarus might be raised
They were soon and wonderfully Ell
| lightened The dead was raised in their
sight. Thereafter to the end of the quar-
ter's lessons the truth that life and i'm
mortality are brought to life in Chrst's
Gospel is increasingly enforced and illus
trated to the glorious confirmation by the
rising of Christ Himself Incidentally we
note in the opening lesson that the Jews
of that time already had very clear idea
of the Immortality of the soul, for when
Jesus told Martha that her brother should
rise, she answered as plainly and simply as
any Christian would now answer, 81 know
that he shall rise again at the last day"
In the next lesson Jesus foretells his
death, but adds to it an immediate promise
of eternal life. st. John passes rapidly
over the events of the last week, assuming
them to he knowh to the Christians, but
dwells on each act demonstrating the divin
ity of Christ and his promise of eternal
life. In the next lesson is related the sub
lime act of humiliation by which Jesus
showed that he loved his disciples to the
end,and all of the next two lessons is devot
ed to the glorious doctrine of the Comforter
AS one reads this account in John he feels
an intense conviction that he is reading a
verbal report by an actual witness. 1t
carries conviction as a modern interview"
is sometimes said to do-by the force of in
ternal evidence.
Then follows Christ's sublime prayer for
his disciples, his betrayal arrest and ar
raignment before Annas and Caiaphas, and
then the curious play between priests and
politicians by which he was sent back and
forward, and the extraordinary episode of
Pilates relenting and his wife's famous
plea The student of Bible history should
pause at this point and study all the de-
tails carefully, for right here is an inter
lock of politics and popular hatred, Roman
law and Jewish prejudice, which by a
mysterious providence furnishes some of
the strongest evidence of the truth of the
Gospel narrative.
fact that of the principal persons here men.
toned and of the general state of feeling in
Jerusalem AT that time. we have a history
from sources outside of the Bible as com.
plete and authentic as we have of any
great era in modern times We know al
most as much of the Herods as we do of
the Hanoverian monarchs of Great Britain.
The quarrel between this Herod and plate
and their reconciliation and the reasons
WHY the chief priests prevailed are all
made known to us by unuuestioned pro
fame history. Now observe how completely
every little phrase that St. John uses fits
in with that history, and note especially
that he tells his story precisely as an eye
witness would tell it, In the profane his
tory of this era the Bible student may find
material for many hours of profitable en-
joyment
On one important point, however, there
is great disparity of opinion PLATE seemed
very anxious to exculpate Jesus, or at any
rate SO pretended. Yet when the Jews
cried out that the prisoner had violated
their law and ought to die, "when PLATE
heard that saying he was sore afraid ,
Afraid of what2 He had declared Jesu.
innocent of any olfense against the Roman
law and as to religion it is highly prob
al, 4, I'll
of the time, an atheist; yet he was in fear
and again questioned Jesus Note tn,
statement of the Saviour in one reply:
Chou couldst have no power at al
against me except it were given thee from
above"
That is, God is the sovereign and earthl,