Adeline Georgiana Isabel Kingscote

“ 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!" ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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? ”

“ Terrified and amazed at this uncalled-for curse, Mary was about to make reply, when, brief and terse, the voice of the Messiah gave command: "Take ye away the stone." And He pointed with his finger to the grave.
The hour was come. But a few moments longer would the veil be stretched between the power of God and the belief of man. The air seemed freighted with portentous marvels, each heart palpitating with suspense.
The disciples sprang forward to obey; yet, even now, the voice of unbelieving common-sense, of faithlessness, of law-bound argument, sounded from Martha's lips. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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? ”

“ Then, seizing Iscariot by the sleeve, he took him to the window and pointed to the pale mists of dawn that hovered in tenuous masses above the earth. 'Seest thou that sun just showing above yon mountain?' he asked the wretched man, whose despairing eyes were barely lifted and whose head was bent painfully beneath the iron grasp of Caiaphas. 'Before that sun shall rise again thou wilt be lying with thy eyes glazed in death, unless thou keep thy promise to betray this Jesus.'"
"Oh, poor Judas!" exclaimed the tender-hearted Mary. "Could we not help him to escape this man?" ”

“ 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? ”

“ Then Lazarus said: "We must needs watch, or, maybe, He will not even have time to pray."
Then, when Jesus saw the distress of the warm-hearted Peter and James and John, He bade them come with Him; and, with one human cry for sympathy, He said: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me."
Who can dare to dwell on that great agony and live. The agony of God brought low. The haunting fear of His humanity that at the last His strength might fail! ”

“ They are indeed the words of a God, for never man spake like this Man. It is the Messiah who is here; I know it, I feel it, Martha. If thou wouldst but once accompany me and follow Him, for most times He speaketh to the multitude!"
But Martha had made answer: "Thinkest thou, Mary, that the Messiah would come as a poor carpenter and in poorest attire, with naught else but a chiton and a tunic? Thinkest thou not that the heavens would rend themselves, and the very thunder-clouds be in waiting on the Lord? ”

“ But Martha, justly angered, raised her head proudly and made answer: "Nay, but I will now that thou have this stone rolled on my brother's grave; and, if thou wilt but bid thy soldiers do it in the presence of these who linger still and can bear witness to it, I will myself send message to my kinsman Caiaphas, or, if needs be, go to Pontius Pilate to tell him of thy words."
Annas started, stung by her tone and words; then laughed an angry laugh. "Methinks that He who can raise one so dead as Lazarus can also roll away the stone." ”

“ But day was now stealing across the sky, ripping up right and left, backwards and forwards, the dark clouds, seaming the heavens with shafts of light, slashing each cloud with radiancy, unfolding one by one the glories of morning; till at last the sun, like a golden ball hurled on earth by a boisterous god, or leaping like a giant upon the world, burst forth with light and warmth, a messenger, though that world knew it not.
"Lift up thine eyes, look round about and see," it said; but the world slept, and Jerusalem slept, oblivious that that day the God of Eternity would weep. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Olive and cypress trees, leafless vineyards, houses and walls and hills were every moment shrouded more and more in the mantle of darkness that was falling silently over the earth. Every now and then a bat, whirring out from a neighbouring tree, or a pariah dog howling outside the walls, was the only sound that broke the stillness. Along the road to Bethany a woman was hastening with cloak tightly drawn around her. At that very moment Martha was also speeding her way from Bethany to Bethsaida to beseech the Lord. ”

“ Oh, if the world could but understand or, not understanding, be content to believe and pray!"
The first faint streaks of dawn were trembling in the sky, a blue, cold light began to play lightly on the olive branches, and already the golden haze of glory seemed to be melting almost imperceptibly. Lazarus's face was growing indistinct. The air seemed filled with the rustling of wings; a noise, as a flight of birds, sounded in Mary's ears, mingled with the music of strings of countless harps in unison ”

“ What to the God than to assert His power by one transcendent act? What more heartrending task than to wait in meek submission to God's will amidst the taunts of scoffing enemies and the tears of those beloved?
Jesus wept. Surely all earthly grief and desolation, the disillusion of friendship that has failed, the inability of expressing one's tenderness to those one loves, the general impotence of humanity, are forever comforted by those divine tears wrung forth from the aching heart of the sorrowing Saviour. ”

“ But if so be that death should overtake us, tell him that we fear it not, and that we are ever grateful for his remembrance, and will pray for him."
Then, while the soldier was departing, Lazarus turned to the Magdalene.
"Art thou still so minded," said he, "that thou wouldst have me for thy husband? The persecution hath already begun, and henceforth there will be no rest or peace for them who serve the Lord. Art not afraid?"
With a proud, loving gesture, the Magdalene answered: "With thee I fear naught, Lazarus; for the Spirit of God will be with us always, even to the end of the world." ”

“ Perhaps the old man hovering on the confines of life and death, with keener memory of prophecy, with greater crimes upon his head than had any other ruler, face to face at last with the majestic presence he had barely seen as it had wandered through the streets of Jerusalem and up and down the mountains, proclaiming upon earth its mission, felt a slight quivering, a fleeting terror lest events stupendous should befall. ”