be made plain, and
slippery places smooth, and judgments "bright as the noonday;" but if
not _here_, there _is_ at least a glorious day of disclosures at hand,
when the reign of unbelieving doubt shall terminate for ever, when the
archives of a chequered past will be ransacked of their every
mystery;--all events mirrored and made plain in the light of eternity;
and this saying of the weeping Saviour of Bethany obtain its true and
everlasting fulfilment, "SAID I NOT UNTO THEE, IF THOU WOULDST BELIEVE,
THOU SHOULDST SEE THE GLORY OF GOD?"

XV.

THE DIVINE PLEADER.

The stone is rolled away, but there is a solemn pause just when the
miracle is about to be performed.

_Jesus prays!_ The God-Man Mediator--the Lord of Life--the Abolisher of
Death--the Being of all Beings--who had the boundless treasures of
eternity in His grasp--pauses by the grave of the dead, and lifts up His
eyes to heaven in supplication! How often in the same incidents, during
our Lord's incarnation, do we find His manhood and His Godhead standing
together in stupendous contrast. At His birth, the mystic star and the
lowly manger were together; at His death, the ignominious cross and the
eclipsed sun were together. Here He weeps and prays at the very moment
when He is baring the arm of Omnipotence. The "mighty God" appears in
conjunction with "the man Christ Jesus." "His name is Immanuel, God with
us."

The body of Lazarus was now probably, by the rolling away of the stone,
exposed to view. It was a humiliating sight. Earth--the grave--could
afford no solace to the spectators. The Redeemer, by a significant act,
shews them where alone, at such an hour, comfort can be found. He points
the mourning spirit to its only true source of consolation and peace in
God Himself, teaching it to rise above the mortal to the immortal--the
corruptible to the incorruptible--from earth to heaven.

Ah! there is nothing but humiliation and sadness in every view of the
grave and corruption. Why dwell on the shattered casket, and not rather
on the jewel which is sparkling brighter than ever in a better world?
Why persist in gazing on the trophies of the last enemy, when we can
joyfully realise the emancipated soul exulting in the plenitude of
purchased bliss? Why fall with broken wing and wailing cry to the dust,
when on eagle-pinion we can soar to the celestial gate, and learn the
unkindness of wishing the sainted and crowned one back to the nether
valley?