The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1894-04-27

Bethany, two or three miles walk from
Jerusalem, ana over a rough and hilly
road that made 1t equal 10 six or seven
ordinary miles, every morning and night
going 10 and fro. would rather walk
from here to Central park, or walk from
Edinburgh TO Arthur's Seat, or in Lon
don clear around Hyde park, than 10
walk that road that Christ walked twice
a day from Jerusalem to Bethany. But
he liked the quietude of home life, and
he was lovely in his domesticity.
How he enjoyed handing over the res
urrected boy TO his mother, and the res
urrected girl to her father, and recon-
structing hOmeSteads which disease or
death was breaking up! As the song
Home, Sweet Home" was written by
a man who at that time had no home,
so think the hOmeleSSneSs Of Christ
added to his appreciation of domesticity.
Furthermore, he was lovely in his
sympathieS. Now, dropSy is a most dis
tressful complaint 1t inflameS and
swelIS and tOrtureS any limb or physical
organ it touches. As soon as a case of
that kind is submitted TO Christ he,
without any use of diaphoretics, COM
mands its cure. And what an eye doc
tor he was for opening the long closed
gates of sight TO the blue of the sky,
and the yellow of the flower, and the
emerald Of the grass! What Christ he
was for cooling fevers without so much
as a spoonful of febrifuge, and straight
ening crooked backs without any pang
of surgery, and standing whole choirs
Of music along the silent galleries Of a
deaf ear, and giving healthful nervous
system to cataleptics! Sympathy! He
did not give them stoical advice or phi
Josephine about the science of grief. He
sat down and cried with them.
1t is spoken of as the shortest verse
in the Bible, but to me it is about the
longest and grandest, "Jesus wept. !"
All, many Of Us know the meaning Of
that! When we were in great trouble,
some one came in with vOluble consOla-
tion and quoted the Scripture in a sort
of heartless way and did not help US at
all. But after awhile some one else came
in, and without saying a word sat down
and burst into flood of tears at the
sight of our wee, and somehow it help
ed Us right away. "Je,us wept." You
see, it was deeply attached household,
that Of Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
The father and mother were dead, and
the girls depended ON their brother.
Lazarus had said to them: Now, Mary,
now, Martha, stop your worrying. Twill
take care of you. 1 will be to you both
father and mother. My arm is strong
Girls, you can depend on meH'
Comfort of Tears.
But now Lazarus was sick-yea, Laz-
arus was dead. All broken up, the sis
ters sit discOnsolate, and there is knock
at the door. Come in, says Martha
Come in, says Mary. Christ entered,
and he just broke down. Itwas too much
for him. He had been so often and SO
kindly entertained in that home before
sickness and death devastated it that he
choked up and sObbed aloud and the
tears tricl1led down the sad face Of the
sympathetic Christ. Jesus wept. "
Why do you not try that mode Of help
ing? You say, Il am q man of few
words" or 4 am woman of few
words. " Why, you dear soul, words are
not necessary. Initiate your Lord and
go to those afflicted homes and cry with
them.
John Murphy! Well, you did not
know him. Cnce, when was in great
bereavement, he came to my house.
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