The Washington weekly post., 1900-04-24


creed Of Calvin as that OF the logician
and netaphysician who plucks apart the
fragrant rose Of faith and offers the cold
and unmoving skeleton in its stead. He
bids the Christian throw of the Ties of
dogma and morbidness. put his faith In
God alone. 2ad trust all 20 Him.
For his text Dr. Talmage took John.
xi:H: Loose him, and let him 60 and
said:
My Bible is. at the place of this text,
written all over with lead pencil marks
made at Bethany on the ruins of h
house OF Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
We dismounted from our horses on the
way up from Jordan 10 the Dead Sea.
Bethany was the summer evening retreat
Of Jesus. After spending the day IN the
hot city Of Jerusalem, He would come
I out there almost every evening 20 the
house of His three friends. l think the
occupants Of that house were orphans,
for the father and mother are not men
4 toned. But the son and two daughters
must have inherited property, for 1t must
have been, judging from what | saw of
the foundations and the size of the rooms,
an Cpulent home. Lazarus, the brother.
was now at the head of the household.
and his sisters depended on him. and were
proud of him. for he was very popular
and everybody liked him, and these girls
were splendid girls Martha, frst-rate
housekeeper. and Mary. ii spirituelle,
somewhat dreary, but affectionate, and as
good a girl as could be found in all Pales-
tine. But one day Lazarus got sick. The
sisters were in CONSERVATION. rather
gone and mother gone, they fec very
nervous lest thcv lose their brother also.
D r,T- To- 1la
girls hung over his pillow. Not much
sleep about that house. no sleep at all.
From the characteristics otherwise de-
veIoped Judge that Martha prepared the
medicines and made tempting dishes Of
food for the poor appetite OF the suffer
or. but Mary prayed and sobbed. Worse
and worse gets Lazarus, until the doc-
/ tor announces that he can do no more.
The shrek that went UP from that house
hold when the last breath had been
drawn and the two sisters were being
led by sympa rhiZers into the adjoining
room, all those % us can ina line who
have had our own hearts broken. But
J why was not Jesus there as He so often
had been? Far away in the country dis
J tricts. 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 Lazarus had been buried four
days, and dissolution had taken place. IN
! that climate, the breathless body disin-
/ tegrates more rapidly than in ours. If,
/ Immediately after decaase. the body had
/ been awakened into life. unbelievers
/ might have said ne was only in a coma
! tose state or in a sort of trance, and by
/ some vigorous manipulation or powerful
stimulant vitality had been renewed. No!
Four days dead.
The Raising of Lazarus.
AT the door of the sepulcher Is 4
crowd Of people. but the three most mem
orable are Jesus, who was the family
friend, and the two bereft sisters. We
went into the traditional tomb one De-
cember day, and il 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 null
I ti{ude. l wonder what Jesus will do?
! lie orders the door of the grave re-
moved, 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,
Were ever so many sorrows compressed
into so small a space as in that group
pressing on down after Christ, all the
time bemOaning that He had not come be-
fore?
Now all the whispering and all the
| crying and all the sounds of shuf1ins
feet are stopped. 1t is the silence OF
expectancy. Death had conquered, but
now the vanquisher of death confronted
the scene. Amid the awful hush of the
/ tomb, the familiar name which Christ
had often had upoG His lips in the hos
pitalities of the village home came back
to His tongue, and with pathos and an
dlmightiness of which the resurrection
of the last day shall only be an echo, He
cried, Lazarus, come FORTH! The eyes
OF the slumberer open. and he rises and
comes 10 the foot Of the steps, and with
great difficulty begins to ascend, for the
cerements Of the tomb are yet on him,
- his feet are fast, and his hands are
<, and the impediments TO ali his
,Vements are so great that Jesus COM
-Aands: Take off these cerements; re-
move these hindrances; unfasten these
grave clothes; loose him, and let him go.
On, / am so glad that after the Lord
raised Lazarus He went on, and COM
manded the loosening OF the cords that
bound his feet, so that he could walk.
and the breaking of Of the cerement
that bound his hands so that he could
stretch out his arms in salutatiOn, and
around his jaws so that he could speak.
What would reSurrected life have been
10 Lazarus if he had not been freed from
all those cripplements of his body? |
am glad that Christ commanded his com
plete emancipation, saying, Loose him,
and let him go
CaIvin's Greed Out of Date.
The unfortunate thing now is that so
many Christians are only half liberated.
/ They have been raised from the death
and burial OF sin into spiritual life, but
; they Yet have the grave clothes on them.
| They are, Ike Lazarus, hobbllng I'D the
! stairs Of the tomb bound hand and foot.
and the object OF This sermon is 10 help
free their body and frhe their soul. and |
shall try 10 obey fasteTs command
that comes 10 m comes 10 every
minister Of religion: Loose him, and let
him 60.
Many are bound hani and foot by re-
ligious creeds. Let no man misinterpret
me as SntagOniZiug cree IS. ! have eight
or ten Of them; A creed about religion. a
creed about art. a creed about social life,
a creed about government, and so on. 4
/ Nitt0 u soultlllDA tnat q man believes,
whether ii be written or unwritten. The
Presbyterian Church is now agitated
about its creed. Some good men in II are
for keeping IL because il was framed from
the belief OF John Calvin. Other good
men in IL want revision. / am with
neither party. Instead OF revision / want
substitution. l was sorry 10 have tn,
question disturbed al all. The creed did
not hinder us from Offering the pardon
and the comfort OF the Gospel to all men.
and the Westminster Confession has not
interfered with me one minute. But now
that the electric lights have been turned
on the imperfections OF that creed-ani
everything that man fashions Is imper-
fect-let Us put the old creed respectfully
aside and get a brand-new one.
1T Is impossible that people who lived
hundreds OF years ago should fashion an
appropriate creed for our times. John
Calvin vas great and good man. but he
died three hundred and thirty-six years
F D. -