Memories of Bethany

Slee

e to watch the return of the messenger, or, what was better, to hail their expected Lord. Gazing on the pale face at their side, and remembering that ere now the tidings of his illness must have reached Bethabara, they may have even expected to witnes

nk so gently in its crimson couch-never did child, nest

reath went fort

ent rose when t

had been hovering round his death-pillow had well-nigh reached the gates of glory ere the sorro

,[10] we are almost led to surmise that He did so at the very moment of the spirit's dismissal-the Redeemer speak

ignificant contrast. The one comes to the dark river with her pale, sickly lamp. It refuses to burn-the damps of Lethe dim and quench it. Philosophy tries to discourse on death as a "stern necessi

s! So complete, indeed, is the Redeemer's victory over this last enemy, that He Himself speaks of it as no longer a reality, but a shadow-a phantom-foe from which we have nothing to dread. "Whosoever believeth in Me shall never die." "If a man keep My sayings, he shall never see death." These are an echo of the sweet Psalmist's beautiful words, a transcript of his expressive figure when he pictures the Dark Valley to the believer as the Valley of a "shadow." The substance is removed! When the gaunt spirit meets him on the midnight waters, he may, like the disciples at first, be led to "cry out for fear." But a gentle voice of love and tenderness rebukes his dread, and calms his misgivings-"It is I! be not afraid!" Yes, here is the wondrous secret of a calm departure-the "sleep" of the believer in death. It is the

ng to do but to die (to sleep), and wake up in glory everlasting! "Oh! that all my brethren," were among Rutherford's last words, "may know what a Master I have served, and what peace I have this day. This night shall close the door, and put my anchor within

ity. As the gentle smile of a foretasted heaven is seen playing on the marble lips-the rays gilding the mountain t

bering that th

aints to slumb

ear we check-w

th resign them

from the four winds of heaven-from the one end of heaven to the other." Oh, wondrous day, when the long dishonoured casket shall be raised a "glorified, body" to receive once more the immortal jewel, polished and made meet for the Master's use! See how Paul clings, in speaking of this glorious resurrection period, to the expressive figure of his Lord before him-"Them also w

hall be heard proclaiming, "Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in dust." "The winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtl

oice, to dispute its progress, to drive it from the ground it occupies. But from the mouth of the grave the world retires; it shrinks from the contest there; it leaves a clear and open space in which the Gospel can assert its claims and unveil its glories without opposition or fear. There the infidel and worldling look anxiously around-but the

ch die in the Lord. ... They rest." All life's turmoil and tossing is over;

guardian o

treasury of

tom of

hope agai

derers on his guiltless head, yet, nevertheless, he "fell asleep." What was the secret of that calmest of sunsets amid a blood-stained and storm-wreathed sky? The eye of faith (if not of sight) pierced through those clouds of darkness. Far above the courts of the material temple at whose base he lay, he beheld, in the midst of the general assembly and Chur

ttle at what h

alls asleep. De

mely who is

s cold world th

the earlier immo

a proverb, "The land of forgetfulness." But they are not forgotten by Jesus. That which sunders and dislocates all other ties-wrenching brother from brother, sister from sister, friend

fter frie

not lost

allenge, "Who shall separate me from the love of Christ?" The righteous are had with Him "in everlasting re

ing still. He prepares His people for their hours of trial. He does not lay upon them more than they are able to bear. He considers their case-He teaches by slow and gradual discipline, leading on step by step; staying His rough wind in the day of His east wind. As the Good Physician, He metes out drop by drop in the bitter cup-as the Good Shepherd, His is not rough driving, but gentle guiding from pasture to pasture. "He leadeth them out;" "He goeth before them." He is Himself their sheltering rock in the "dark

s hand on the latch, or to the loving music of His longed-for voice. But they are mistaken; it was only the beating of the vine-tendrils on the lattice, or the footfall of the passer by. The Lord is still absent! Their earnest and importunate heart-breathings are expressed by the Psalmist-"O Lord our God, early do we seek Thee: our soul thirsteth for Thee, our flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see Thy power and Thy gl