Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1900-04-27
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
TIMELY DISCOURSE ON RELIC
IOUS DOCTRINES.
Would Free Humanity From tho
GravecIothes of Old Ecclesi astical Dog
mas - Faith In Christ the Test of
True Christianity.


My Bible is at the place of this text
written all over with lead pencil
marks made at Bethany on the ruins
OF the house of Mary and Martha and
Lazarus. We dismounted from our
horses on the way up from Jordan to
mer evening retreat of Jesus. After
spending the day in the hot city OF
al erusalem he would come out there al
- lost every evening to the house OF
is three friends. l think the occu-
Wants of that house were orphans. for
lie father and mother are not men
,~.oned. But the son and two daugh-
Ssrs must have inherited property, for
n. must have been, judging from what
y saw of the foundations and the size
# the rooms, an opulent home. Laza-
US, the brother, was now at the head
4 the household, and his sisters de-
ended on him and were proud of him,
or he was very popular. and every
ody liked him, and these girls were
plendid girls-Martha a first rate
'ousekeeper and Mary a spirituelle,
omewhat dreamy, but affectionate
md as good a girl as could be found
a all Palestine. But one day Lazar-
is got sick. The sisters were in con-
formation. Father gone, and mother
zone, they feel very nervous lest they
.ose their brother also. Disease did
is quick work. How the girls hung
yer his pillow! Not much sleep
tbout that house-po sleep at all.
From the characteristics otherwise
eveloped. 1 judge that Martha pre-
Jared the medicines and made tempt
ng dishes of food for the poor appe-
lite Of the sufferer, but Mary prayed
md sobbed. Worse and worse gets
lazarus until the doctor announces
hat he can do no more. The shrek
Nhat went up from that household
when the last breath had been drawn
= nd the two sisters were being led by
ympathizers into the adjoining room
ctll those of us can imagine who have
.ad our own hearts broken. But why
Tas not Jesus there as he so often had
zen? Far away in the country dis
= riots. preaching, healing other SICK
= .ow unfortunate that this omnipotent
doctor had not been at that domestic
= risis in Bethany. When at last Jesus
arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been
buried four days and dissolution had
Saken place. In that climate the
S'reathless body disintegrates more
Sapidly than in ours. If, Immediately
= fter decease, the body had been
- awakened into life, unbelievers might
: ave said he was only in a comatose
-tate or in a sort of trance and by
lone vigorous manipulation or power
.ul stimulant vitality had been re-
-iewed. Mo- -Four days dead.
The sepulcher of Christ.
At the door of the sepulcher is a
erowd of people, but the three most
= honorable are Jesus, who was the
= amily friend, and the two bereft sis
ers. We went into the traditional
omb one December day, and 1t is deep
''own and dark. and with torches we
-xplored 1t. We found it all quiet that
afternoon Of our visit, but the day
| poken of in the Bible there was pres
ut an excited multitude. 1 wonder
What Jesus will do? He orders the door
II the grave removed, and then he be-
ms to descend the steps, Mary and
iartha close after him. and the crowd
fter them. Deeper down into the
! 1adows and deeper! The hot tears
Jesus roll over his cheeks and
9lash upon the back OF his hands.
|ere ever so many sorrows COM
ressed into so small a space as in
nat group pressing On down after
hrist, all the time bemoaning that he
ad not come before?
Now all the whispering and all the
rying and all the sounds of shutting
set are stopped. 1t is the silence OF
spectancy. Death had conquered, but
ow the vanquisher Of death confront
! the scene. Amid the awful hush OF
lie tomb, the familiar name which
hrist had often had upon his lips in
lie Inequalities of the village home
I-ime back to his tongue, and with a
athos and an almightiness of which
lie resurrection of the last day shall
NY be an echo he cries, Lazarus,
Jme FORTH" The eyes OF the SUM
arer open, and he rises and comes to
lie foot of the steps and with great
= <ifficulty begins to ascend, for the
: erements of the tomb are yet on him,
nd his feet are fast and his hands are
ist and the impediments to all his
Movements are so great that Jesus
ommands: Take off these cere-
ents! Remove these hindrances,
nfasten these graveclothes, Loose
i'm, and let him CO."
Oh, am so glad that after the Lord
Used Lazarus he went on and COM
landed the loosening of the cords that
| ound his feet so that ne could walk
id the breaking off of the cerement
| nat bound his hands so that he could
| tretch out his arms in salutation and
le tearing off of the bandage from
round his jaws so that he could speak.
What would resurrected life have been
Lazarus il he had not been freed
rom all those supplements of his
Iody? / am glad that Christ COM
4 handed his complete emancipation,
Saying, Loose him, and let him CO.
Only Half liberated.
81 The unfortunate thing now is that so
Ot1any Christians are only half liber-
Gu ted. They have been raised from the
Aa1eath and burial of sin into spiritual