The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-06-30
PEOPLES PULPIT.
Three Men and Two
Women Whom
Jesus Loved.
Text, Lord, He Whom Thou
Lowest Is Sick"

COulu we suppose LDHL Jesus would
have allowed him to go without urg-
ing him strenuously, without at least
warning him, that by his course he
was making the choice of eternal tor
ment2 Can we suppose that our Mas
ter knew that all the people whom he
addressed and who failed to accept his
message would be consequently con-
signed to eternal torture. and that
he let them go without urging the mat
ter upon them? We could not so
think! Thank God we are gradually
getting free from the bondage of error
fastened upon us by those who mis-
translated certain words in our Bible
We get the proper view when we re-
member that Jesus message at that
time was "The Gospel of the King.
DOM" He was merely inviting who
ever might have the ear to hear and
the heart to appreciate the privilege
to become associated with himself in
the glorious Kingdom for which he
told his disciples to pray, "Thy King
dom come; thy will be done on earth
as 1t is done In heaven" What the
rich young man lost was the special
privilege of becoming a joint-heir with
Christ in that Kingdom which, in due
time, will be established and whose
mission will be the blessing of Israel
and the world. 1t will bring to them
"times of restitution of all things
which God hath spoken by the mouth
Of all the holy prophets since the
world began" Acts iii, 1929
"He Whom Thou Lowest Is Sick"
Our text stands related to very
wonderful chapter in our Lords min
istry. Jesus with his disciples was
about three days journey from Beth
any, the home of Lazarus, Martha and
Mary. But they knew his where
abouts, for he was a special friend and
their home was his home whenever
he was near Jerusalem. Lazarus took
seriously i'll. But the two sisters, Mar
tina and Mary, feared nothing, since
they had such great confidence in Je-
sus, even to belief in his ability
to awaken sleepers from death. They
thought it proper to send the Mas
ter word respecting Lazarus, but
not proper to dictate to him what
should be done in the case. Rather
they left to himself to decide wheth-
er he should speak the word and
rebuRe the disease or whether he
should come to Bethany and take
the sick by the hand and say, Arise.
The simple message they sent was.
Lord, he whom thou lowest is sick"
The beautiful, childlike, simple faith
which they exhibited must have been
very precious in the Masters sight
Nevertheless Jesus said nothing, and
did nothing in the matter for three
days. Then he said to his disciples,
Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." They
did not grasp his meaning until he
said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead;
and l am glad for your sakes that
was not there. | am glad because it
will give me an opportunity to demon
strate to you and through you to all
who shall be my disciples in the flu
ture the great power of God that is
vested in me in respect to the resur-
rection of the dead.
All Bible Students surely have no.
ticed how frequently in the Scriptures
the word sleep" is used as poetical
synonym for death abraham slept
with his fathers" David slept with
his fathers" Prophets, priests and
kings are said to have slept with their
fathers. whether good or bad. Like
wise the New Testament uses the
same figure of speech We read that
st. Stephen the martyr. stoned to
death, "fell asleep" st. Paul speaks
of the Church as falling asleep in
death and refers to all of our friends,
good and bad, who go down into death,
as being "asleep in Jesus" He tells
us that we need not sorrow for them
as others who know not the resurrec-
ton hope. All who fall asleep in death
because of Adams transgression and
its death sentence have in Jesus a
Diyinely appointed Redeemer who in
Gods due time is to awaken all the
sleeping hosts of Adams race "All
that are in their graves shall hear the
voice of the Son of man and come
FORTH They that have done good
(who have secured Divine approval as
worthy of eternal life shall come forth
unto the resurrection of life full per
fectionl; and they that have done evil
THAT have not secured the Divine APP
prevail as being worthy of eternal lifel
shall come forth in the resurrection
for judgment John V, %, 29) or trial,
for discipline, for correction III right
eousness during Messiahs reign OF
1000 years.
Coming forth in that judgment time
or trial time, all the willing and ODE
dent will eventually be lifted out of
sin and death, while those disobedient
to the light and opportunity will be
again consigned to death-Second
Death, everlasting extinction John V.
2S, 20, r. W.
We have read our Bibles too care
lessly in the past and have given too
much heed TO those who, with less OPP
portunities than ourselves. grossly mis-
interpreted its teachings. What did
we think respecting this word sleep"
anyway? Did we suppose that both
the good and the bad sleep in heav.
en-? We were told that the bad would
go TO place too warm for sleep. But
our own brains and our own Bibles
we never thought of using in connec-