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and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

To touch anything connected with the dead conveyed. uncleanness, but He could receive no contamination. Virtue ever went forth of Him. He imparted his health, without participating in our corruption. The bearers stand still, without apparently being bidden, expecting something from His wondrous mien. What amazement must have filled their minds as they heard that language of self-asserting power, and saw its instant effect! It may be noted that this dead man was not put into a closed coffin as with us, but laid on an open bier, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. He was at least visible to those who yet cared to gaze on a form familiar to them, the neighbours and comrades and fellow townsmen to whom in his short life this young man had endeared himself. It is the case, even in some parts of the continent of Europe, at the present day. So that when roused by the Lord's voice from that sleep of death, which but for this would have had here no awakening, there was nothing to hinder his sitting up immediately in the presence of them all. It was a young man, we note, to whom this was spoken. Youth may not exempt us from death. Not always the youngest, or the strongest, or the healthiest, or those who, to speak after the manner of men, have the fairest promise of life, live the longest. The average of man's life is twenty-eight years. It has been calculated that one quarter of mankind die before the age of seven, one half before the age of seventeen. But in the great day of recompenses, in the time of the restitution of all things, "it shall not then be inquired concerning us how long we lived, but how well!" Had this young man lived a selfish and a sinful life, he had not been so regretted. Happy those who "live so as to be missed;" who die mourned by all good men. Such " can never die too soon, nor live too long." "

Jer. Taylor, Funeral Sermon for Lady Carbery.

2 Id. Holy Dying, sect. iii.

CLXIX.

THE SAME SUBJECT—continued.

St. Luke vii. 15-17.

And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people. And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judæa, and throughout all the region round about.

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He that had been but a moment before dead, "sat up and began to speak." What he said "remaineth unrevealed;" but they were doubtless good words. Let any, more especially younger men, who might be mistaken enough to imagine it a sign of manliness to use lewd or profane words, consider if such can be the language of one who claims, with all baptized Christians, to be risen from the dead." Where Christ raises from the dead, there He delivers from dead works. When He gives spiritual life, then He opens our lips, and our mouth shall show forth His praise. Then we speak, not to corrupt other, and to talk of wicked blasphemy, but to the glory of God, and to the good of men. Something too we may learn from this closing sentence of the wondrous story, "He delivered him to his mother." None in that multitude could realize the depth of her grief at his loss, the height of her joy at his restoration. Both in her grief and in her gladness, we may see something akin to the feeling expressed by the father of the returning prodigal, "This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And still it is so in this vale of tears. Still are there widowed mothers mourning their only sons. Such may take comfort from the record of this miracle. In this they are to see the pledge of a yet greater restoration at the second coming of their Lord, when not just one here and another there, a few

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Tennyson, In Memoriam, xxxi.

2 Col. ii. 12.

out of many, a leaf or two out of the sere and withered heap,' shall be raised and restored; but when all the dead in Christ, through the grave, and gate of death, shall pass, for His merits, to their joyful resurrection; 2 and they who were lovely and pleasant in their lives shall find indeed that in death they are not divided. Then shall be the general restoration of all the faithful; only sons to their no longer widowed mothers. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." And even though the age of miracles on men's bodies. has ceased, the same Lord still works His miracles in the soul, on the spirit. Still doth He raise our dead souls to a spiritual life. Still thou hast one who can say to thy prodigal, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise."3 And the Church, our spiritual mother, though now weeping, may yet rejoice over souls recovered out of the snare of the devil, as this mother, who wept, rejoiced over her only son. And now a holy fear seems to have taken possession of their minds who saw this strange sight. They gave God the glory. They acknowledged Jesus to be a prophet indeed. They blessed God, and said, in words which recall that hymn of Zachary, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people." Far and wide this rumour of Him now was spread.

1 The Christian Year, Twelfth Sun. after Trinity.

2 Collect for Easter Even.

3 Aug. Ser. cxxviii. 14. We may recall the case of this same Augustine himself, rendered to the prayers and tears, the gentle spirit and silent influence and sweet Christian example of his holy mother Monica.

Id. Ser. xcviii, 2. In this noble Sermon St. Augustine regards the three whom our Lord raised from the

dead, at different stages after their deccase, as three several types of the spiritually dead: whether, like the little daughter of Jairus, dead but not yet carried out; or, like this young man, dead and carried out, but not yet buried; or, like Lazarus in mature age, dead and carried out and buried. So sinners of every degree can Christ raise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness.-St. John v. 25.

CLXX.

CHRIST ANSWERETH JOHN'S MESSENGERS.

St. Matthew xi. 2-6.

Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

John the Baptist had been put in prison, as we have already heard,' by Herod the king, whom he had reproved for his licentious living. There he languished some months, and thither his disciples came and reported the works of Christ. It seemed strange to him perhaps that he should be left to lie there, while such miracles were being wrought around. Could not He who had restored the widow's son to life, restore His servant to society and usefulness? John had certainly testified to Him that He was the Christ. Still he believed Him to be sent from God. The very fact of his proposing to Him the question, and leaving Him to decide, showed his confidence in Him that He would not deceive. But the terms of the question would seem to show that the Baptist for the moment hesitated as to whether this were after all the promised Messiah, or no more than another mighty Prophet or Teacher sent from God. At all events

St. Mark vi. 17, 18; St. Luke iii. 19, 20.

2 St. Luke vii. 18.

3 Very difficult is it to decide the question whether the Baptist sent in any degree for his own satisfaction, or solely for that of his disciples. If we had only this passage to guide us, we could have no hesitation. It seems John's action throughout, and our

Lord's answer is addressed to him. Still it seems difficult to reconcile even a momentary eclipse with all that we know of the Baptist's history and character, and especially with his previous testimony. It is not a perfectly satisfactory way out of the difficulty to regard all as done for the sake of his disciples.

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he leaves it to Him to decide the question whether or not they are still to look for the Christ.' Our Lord answers by appealing, as usual, to His works. The works He did bare witness to Him." They were works which altogether no other ever did, and none ever did any of them in the same manner as He, by His own authority and power. Some of these3 He was doing at the very time the disciples of the Baptist arrived with their master's message. To these marks of the Messiah therefore He points, as once before in the synagogue at Nazareth; adding another beatitude, realized no doubt in the holy Baptist's own case, as to the supreme blessedness of him whom no trial shall make to stumble at the Rock of His salvation. He, we may not doubt, could say with that pattern of patience before him, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."

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1 Alford notes that this is the only place where this name Christ by itself is given to our Lord in this Gospel; as if the Evangelist had purposely avoided the name Jesus, "to show that the works were reported to John not as those of the Person whom he had known as Jesus, but of the Deliverer, the Christ; and that he was thus led to desire a distinct avowal of the identity of the two."

2 St. John v. 36; x. 24, 25; xv. 24.

The expression "the dead are raised," need not, as Alford observes, imply that more than one such miracle had as yet been wrought. "The plural is generic."

St. Luke vii. 21.

"Even Christ, when asked concerning His mission, makes the proof of it evidently appear in His miracles, which had been foretold; and now, persons without piety, without mis

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sion, without authority, and without succession, would oblige us to believe them upon their bare word."-Quesnel.

"It appears from this answer of our Lord to John's messengers, . . . that He acted a part the most foreign and distant from that which an impostor and enthusiast would have acted. Was it for an impostor and enthusiast to refer messengers who came to him to miraculous works performed before their eyes? . . . The candour of the sacred writers is very remarkable, in honestly relating circumstances which they must have perceived . . . could not fail to afford a handle for cavil and objection. But truth, like honesty, neglects appearances."Paley.

6 St. Luke iv. 16 ff.

Such is the force of the original word. See Rom. ix. 32, 33.

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