The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-05-02
CHRIST AND CRBEDS
Or. Talmage's Time!y Discourse
on Religious Doctrines.
WOULD FREE HUMANITY
From the GravecIothes Of Old &C.
cleaastical Dogmas. Simple
Faith In Christ the Test of
Christianity.

Christianity.
At time when the old discussion Of
creeds is being vigorously and some
what bitterly revived this discourse OF
DR.. Talmage has special interest.
The text is John xi, IA: Loose him
and let him go.
My Bible is at the place Of this text
written all over with lead pencil MARKS
made at Bethany on the runs OF 'ne
house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
W. 6ismountcd from our horses on the
wav ND from Jordan to the Dead sea
Bethany was the summer evening re-
treat Of Jesus. After spending the
day in the hot city of Jerusalem ne
would come out there almost every
evening to the house Of his three friends.
! think the occupants of that house
were orphans, fer the father and mother
are not mentioned But the son and
two daughters must have Inherited pro-
perty, for it must have been, judging
from what saw Of the foundations and
the size of the rooms, an opulent home.
Lazarus, the brother, WAS now at the
head of the household, and his sisters
depended on him and we're proud OF
him, for he was very popular, and
everybody liked him. snd these giris
were splendid girls-Martha first rate
housekeeper and Mary a spirltuelle,
somewhat dreamy, but affectionate and
as good girl as could be found IN all
Palestine. But one day Lazarus got
sick. The sisters were in consterns-
ton. Father gone, and mother gone,
they feel very 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, I judge that Martha pre-
pared the medicines and made tempt
ing dishes of food for the poor appetite
of the sufferer, but Mary prayed and
sobbed. Worse and worse gets Lazarus
until the doctor announces that be can
do 10 more. The Shrek that went up
from that household when the last
breath had been drawn and the two Sis
tiers were being led by sympathizers
into the adjoining room all those of US
can imagine who have had our own
hearts broken. But why was not Jesus
there as he often had been? Far away
in the country districts, preaching,
healing other sick, how unfortunate
that this omnipotent Doctor bad Dot
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 disinte-
CRATES more rapidly than in ours. If,
Immediately after decesse, the body
had been awakened into life, unbeliev-
ers might have said he was only in
comatose state or in a sort Of trance
and by some vigorous manipulation or
powerful stinulsnt vitality had been
renewed. No! Four days dead.
At the door of the sepuleher is a
crowd. CT people, but the three most
memorable are Jesus, who was the
family friend, and the two bereft sis.
ters. We went into the traditional
tomb one December day, 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 pres
eot an excited multitude. l wonder
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 SO many sorrows compressed into
so small a space as in that group press
ing on down after Christ, ali the time
bemoaning tha: he had not come be-
fore?
Now all the whispering and all the
crying and all the sounds of shutting
feet are stopped. It i tic silence of
expectancy. Death had conquered,
but now the vanquisher of death con-
fronted the scene. Amid the awI4l
hush Of the tomb, the familiar name,-
which Christ had often had hsSS-uorpo1 opo1 his
lips in the bosp4sssfiIieg of the village
-59@s Came back to his tongue, and
with a psthos and an almightiness Of
which the resurrection ef the last day
shall only be an echo he cries, Laza-
rus, come forth" The eyes Of the
slunberer open, and he rises and comes
to the foot Of the steps and with great
difficulty begins to ascend, for the cere-
ments Of tomb are yet on him, and his
feet are fast and his hands are fast and
the impedinents to sll his movements
a1e so great that Jesus commands:
Take of these cereuents! Remove
these hin5rances! Unfasten these
graveclothes! Loose him, and let him
goT'
Oh, 1 am so glad that after the LORD
raised Lazarus he went on and com
handed the loosening of the cords that
bound his feet SO that he. could walk
and the breaking off Of the cerement
that bound ais hands so that be could
stretch out his arms in salutation and
the tearing of Of the bandsge 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? I am glad that Christ com
manded his complete emancipation,
saying, Loose him, and lethim 60"
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 graveclothes on them.
They are, like Lazarus, hobbling up the
stairs Of the tomb bound hand and foot,
and the object Of this sermon is to help