Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/59

Rh the Lord! My God, my God, hast Thou forsaken me?"

This was indeed a bitter time ol trial and temptation to these poor women and to the dying Lazarus. To the dying man it seemed as if demons of despair were dancing around his bed, as if Satan himself grinned at him and hissed: "Where is now thy God? Where is now thy God?"

Once he shrieked out, as though in answer to their gibings: "Yet I will still believe, I will believe. Depart from me in the name of Jesus. Yea, though I die, I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He will take me unto Himself."

And angels unseen and unheard, except of Lazarus, echoed in glorious cadence of softest heavenly music: "I know that my Redeemer liveth."

But the two poor women were torn with grief. They felt now that the Lord durst not appear in person; but they knew that, if He were to speak the word, their brother would live. It needed all their teaching of many months to believe still, in the face of this seeming desertion by the Christ. They had sent messenger after messenger on horseback to Him, to where He sojourned near the river Jordan; but all He had answered them had been: "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby."

His words had given them a little hope, but when day succeeded day and Lazarus grew weaker, each hour seeming to make his breath more laboured, it seemed as if the very words of the Lord Himself for once lacked truth. The "If" of life entered the soul of Martha.