Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/100

88 hath gone to entreat the Lord, and He cometh not yet to restore to me my life."

"And art thou, in truth, dead, Lazarus? How then speakest thou to me?" asked Mary Magdalene.

"Whosoever believeth on the Christ shall never die," Lazarus replied solemnly.

"Yet thou art dead, Lazarus, thy grave clothes are yet about thee; thou sayest that thy body lieth in the grave. Tell me, then, what is it to die?"

"To die, Magdalene, is but to begin to live; to begin to understand, to begin to know how great God is, how small we are."

"Truly this is strange, that thou shouldst be dead but speaking still to me," replied the Magdalene.

"They that sleep in the Lord are ever near those they love," said Lazarus. "If thou couldst but see with purified eyes, as I now do, thou wouldst perceive that the world is peopled with the spirits of those who have died, as they of this world call it, but who, in verity, have but begun to live. They are about me while I speak to thee."

Mary paused, as if to give herself courage to reply.

"Dost thou know all things?" presently she asked. "Dost thou know wherefore was the world created and why death came into it, why it was permitted by our Lord Jesus that thou shouldst die, if in truth God be His Father and He hath power to save?"

"Be silent, woman," replied Lazarus severely.

"None of these things do I know yet. All that has come to me in death is the certainty that all this is for right; but I understand it not. I know only