was dead, and then declared His determination to go to him. As the Lord approached the scene of woe, Martha was the first to meet Him, her ready salutation being, “Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died, but I know that even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee." This was the language of faith from Martha, but yet she did not appear to have a very clear conception or anticipation of what was to follow. Meanwhile our Lord did not forget the disconsolate Mary. He enquired for her, as we learn from the words of her sister: "the Master is come, and calleth for thee." Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping that came with her, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled, and said, Where

have ye laid him? They said unto Him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him !" Our Lord of course knew all the time that Lazarus would soon be released from the bands of death by the word of His mouth. The grief, therefore, He felt, and to which for a short period He gave way, (as any other tender-hearted man would have done under such circumstances,) was the pain resulting from pitiful sympathy. They mourned. It was natural they should do so, and there was nothing in the heart or religion of Jesus which forbad their giving vent to the sorrow which oppressed them; a sorrow consequent upon the loss they had sustained, and which they scarcely knew how to bear. Jesus felt for them, and mingled His tears with theirs. Oh, this should never be forgotten when real distress comes across us in the providence of God, especially amongst friends. We do not read

of a single instance in Scripture of Jesus sympathising with mourners over imaginary troubles; with any who grieved about trifles magnified into undue importance by their own selfishness and disregard of the greater trials of their less favoured brethren. No: Jesus dealt only with realities and was always in earnest, both in speech and action. We observe that our Lord delayed His journey till some days after He had received the intelligence of the illness of Lazarus; and the reason is evident, Lazarus was to die that he might be raised again. But it might seem strange to the anxious sisters (it is written with reverence) that the Lord, in whose power they believed, and whose affection they did not doubt, should fail to come to them in the hour of their need. has been too common with all the children of God, more or less, sometimes to think it almost hard, when the Lord has not interposed for them at the exact moment

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