Adeline Georgiana Isabel Kingscote

“ Thou sinning harlot, who wert derided of all men and women, till this half-mad Nazarene appeared and made a pastime of the companionship of sinners, because none other would believe on Him."
" 'T is true I was a sinner and a harlot," replied the Magdalene, with downcast eyes and sweet, sad voice. "I was; but there is that in the power of God that can wipe out all sin and set one, with clean feet, afresh along a new path of life, that is all joy, and peace, and faith, and happiness, and love."
"Believest thou this?" asked Rebekah musingly. ”

“ If you are a prince why should you leave your own dominions and come down here? What about this wicked agreement of giving your wife to another? Who is this minister’s son?”
Subuddhi, without omitting a single point, related everything that had taken place, even to the putting out of his eyes. The old man threw down his sword, took his son-in-law in his arms almost, for so great was his joy at the excellent way which fate had prepared for his escape, and said:
“My son, my life, my eye. True it is, true it is. Dharma alone conquers, and you that hold that motto have conquered everything. ”

“ Nervously she played with the beads of a girdle of amber she wore round her waist.
"Indeed," she muttered, " 't is not the Nazarene that I would seek; but, if to get sight of Lazarus I must needs find the Nazarene, then go I must."
Proud Rebekah, what hath come to thee, that thou, whom, hitherto, all men have sought, dost follow now one man? What is love, that strange, subtle fire that eateth out the heart and bringeth the mighty low? "Oh, I would that Lazarus did feel for me as I for him! That stern, sweet face, how beauteous must it look when melting into love! O Lazarus, Lazarus!" ”

“ The Pradhânî replied, “My king, my lord, excuse me first for the humble words that I am going to speak before your honour. We have taken up a kingdom to which we have no right. If the prince had demanded the throne two years ago, we ought rightfully to have returned it to him. He never asked, and we did not restore it. He never troubles us with demands, but lives like a poor subject of the crown in his own quarters. Such being the case, why should we kill him? Why should we murder the only son of our old and much-respected king Śivâchâr? ”

“ Caiaphas had not seen fit to tell his father-in-law of his midnight journey to Bethany with Nicodemus, when he had hoped, if not to lay hands on Jesus, to get tidings of His movements; when he had also seen the body of Lazarus.
An endless multitude of people thronged all day the road from Jericho; great rabbis, followed by their retinue, mules laden with spices and myrrh, ointment and spikenard. The room in which Lazarus lay, now bound in grave clothes by the tender hands of Martha and Mary, was like an ever-moving panorama. ”

“ If He really was all-powerful, what need to suffer and to toil and to preach? All the quibbles of unbelief, the torment of uncertainty, which is the world's greatest curse, which, since the world began, has raised its beguiling voice, like the voice of a siren, to lure men from the path of life; all the demons of despair, had torn at the heart of Lazarus ever since he had heard the preaching of the Nazarene; but the answer to his prayer had been coming, though he knew it not, coming, as it always does, by inward revelation, not as the result of argument. ”

“ Gently, in a voice that reached only the two women, the Nazarene murmured: "Where have ye laid him?"
And the crowd, hoping and half believing that, at last, it was to see the miracle the nation had been expecting, howled and shrieked: "Show us Lazarus and we will believe.
Mary, in much humility, entreated the Lord to come and see the tomb where they had laid him.
Then, when the cry grew ever louder, "Show us Lazarus and it sufficeth us," Thomas approached the crowd and, raising his hand to still the tumult: "Men of Israel," he said, "wherefore call ye for Lazarus? ”

“ It seemed as if, in answer to the questionings of their hearts, the Nazarene raised His eyes towards them, rather than to the beggar; as if, also, the message concerned both the individual and the world collectively, a vital truth addressed to every soul throughout the universe: "Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee."
Caiaphas rose excitedly. "Dost hear this blasphemy, Nicodemus?" he almost shouted; but his voice was drowned in the uproar of the people; some crying: "It is the Lord, hear ye Him. The Messiah hath indeed come down." Others crying out: "He hath a devil." ”

“ The grey streaks of His last dawn on earth—before His resurrection,—the few bands of white on the walls of the filthy cell lighted the pale face of the Nazarene. A little more pain, a few more taunts, what mattered they? A little more strength only needed to go through twelve hours more. Ere that same sun should sink blood-red behind the hills, the agony would be over; the earth be bathed in the blood that would surge for ever over men's sins in a tide of endless patience till the Judgment Day; and the stupendous gift of the world's salvation would be offered, for men to take or leave. ”

“ They prevailed with me, as those cursed Jews do ever."
" 'T is not true; it cannot be true!" shrieked Claudia.
"What is Truth? What is Truth?" murmured Pilate. "Would I knew the Truth."
"What is Truth?" repeated Claudia scornfully, her eyes flashing with the wrath that stirred her. "What is Truth is this: thou art a coward, a mean, shrinking coward. The Romans were called ever brave, but in all Judæa there is no such coward as thou. For fear of the multitude thou hast struck at God, if He be indeed the Son of God!" ”

“ The mute agony in the eyes of the women wrung his heart. So soon! Before the crowd had slaked their thirst with the blood of one, to demand another's! The blow had fallen; both in one day would hang upon the cross. The last act of the drama had begun; better almost that it should be so than this constant scraping of the heart-strings.
Gravely, even solemnly, his sisters kissed him. The Magdalene, distracted as she was with grief, could only stretch out her hands and cry: "Lazarus, my love, my life." ”

“ Rebekah answered waywardly, her voice ending in a sob. "I care not, I know not; only I know that there is no room on earth for thee and me and him; and one must die. Seest thou this?" and she raised a dagger in her hand; in the moon's pale gleam it looked like a flaming needle. "Seest thou this?"
The Magdalene bent her eyes on it, and a great fear crept over her.
"Well, either thou or Lazarus shall die by this. I would rather it were thou; but, if thou weddest Lazarus, then will I kill him." ”

“ Pilate greeted him with a friendly smile.
"Hail, noble counsellor, what wouldst thou of me?"
"I would crave of thee the body of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God."
"How sayest thou the Son of God," asked Pilate, thirsting for a further understanding of these mysteries, "since it is reported that He is the Son of Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth?"
"For the glory of God and the salvation of the world was this thing done," said Joseph. "He is no man—begotten man—for His mother hath known no man; she is yet a virgin (Blessed be she amongst women!) ; and He is the Son of God." ”

“ And thy soul, if thou hast indeed a soul, is foul, like water into which men have spat; and them wouldst deceive the whole nation for thy own power's sake, and thou wouldst hound pure-living souls to their destruction, so that thou and thy tool, Annas, may hold in chains each Jewish heart; and, when thou diest—as thou must surely die—to thee it will not matter whether or not there be a resurrection, for thou wilt never rise again, since neither heaven nor hell could hold so base a soul. So now thou knowest, Caiaphas, what I think of thee, and with that I bid thee farewell. ”

“ For when our Lord should have died and risen; when the thirst of vengeance of the priests and Pharisees should still remain unsatisfied, whetted, rather, by the lingerings of belief in the breasts of the Jews, who than Lazarus could be better fitted to carry on the witness of tradition; who be a better buffet for the faults of others; who more feared or more detested by the lovers of power than he who, by his very presence and his experience of death, could transmit to the world living proof of the power of the crucified Messiah? ”

“ Her soul and heart seemed to grow hollow and vaulted and expectant, as if emptying themselves to make room for some great presence to hold the voice of God; and yet she sped on, fearful of she knew not what. Why did the words of the Crucified Saviour haunt her? The words He had murmured through His dying agony to the thief that suffered too: "This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise! "Why in the darkness did she see, as it had stood before her on the darkening mount of Calvary, the beauteous divine face looking upward?
For an instant she doubted whether she had sinned in loving Lazarus. ”

“ And all the disciples, raising their hands to heaven, as if to call the moon, the whole creation nay, more, God the Father, to witness what they promised, cried: "We will die with Thee! We will die with Thee!"
"Be still," said Lazarus. "Raise not your voices, lest the enemy should hear you."
His warning, breathed on the stillness of the night, fell on their ears with startling force. The hour was indeed close at hand. Anxiously they peered between the olive trees, some even dividing the branches of the fig trees and the pomegranates lest a traitor should be lurking there. ”

“ At the sight of the figure of the Nazarene he recoiled, as with a sudden memory of horror, but the mind had given way and with difficulty could unfold the one object of his mission.
In and out of the crowd he rushed, holding up his bag and crying out: "Where is the High Priest, where is Caiaphas? I have sinned, I have sinned, I have betrayed the innocent blood. I would find the High Priest and give him back his money." And he held up his bag piteously to each one of the priests.
"What is that to us?" said one. "See thou to that."
"Thou hast thy money; go thy way. ”

“ Oh, what a mystery was life and death! And into the core of Martha's soul there crept once more the question, Why had this world been created? Why had each creature been born into a world of mystery and darkness? But, all the time, the two Marys clasped the hands of Lazarus, as if by pressing they could instil their courage into his deadening veins. What if, at the last moment, he were wrested from them eternally by a flickering out of faith? ”

“ Two rulers had disappeared from the council of the Synagogue Nicodemus and Lazarus; two powerful, wealthy men. And they had sent no word to him. What did their silence mean? For crafty people dread ever silence. They are afraid of secret machinations, of the sudden outbursts of revolutions, of unlooked-for actions, the outcome of cabals. Every one is in league to intrigue against them, because a life without intrigue appears to them impossible. Every one hates them, for they know that in themselves is nothing lovable.
What strange foreboding of horror was this that haunted him? ”

“ To die, not like a warrior on the battle-field, but an ignominious death of abiding torture, a death so undeserved, that it might well wring out the piteous cry that seemed to pierce the heavens and penetrate the radiant hills beyond, and onward to the throne of God. A prayer that the power of sin might be suspended without this awful sacrifice; that the sword of Satan might be sheathed before it slew, before the last foul crime of His death should stamp the world with infamy for ever. ”