Lazarists

“ He had known that he had led such a life, in regard to purity and uprightness, as the Nazarene preached; but this, to give up his possessions—for Lazarus was a rich man—this would mean ceasing to be a ruler of the Synagogue, a lawyer, and a great man in Bethany and Jerusalem. Was this then the spirit of a little child, to be the possessor of nothing, to look to the Father for everything?
Surely this thing was not so easy. A life of believing and uprightness, yes; but poverty? pitiful poverty, to a man who had worn purple robes and been greeted in the market place with the cry of Rabbi, Rabbi! ”

“ Had He wished to restore him, He could have done so from Jerusalem. The city is but fifteen furlongs off. He would have sent over one of the twelve with the message of life, or He would have willed him to live from a distance and he would have lived. Lazarus is dead, but were he living, he would not wish to live if his Lord did not so will it; and, except to our mortal eyes, he is not dead, for thou knowest that our Lord hath said that those who believe on Him shall never die. Oh, Martha, trouble not thyself, but kneel with us and pray. ”

“ AS rapidly as possible Lazarus sent messengers from one disciple to another, bidding them assemble at a given place in Jerusalem, in case the Lord should appear to them. He had chosen the house of a trusted friend, and, at the given hour, all, except Thomas, who could not be found, assembled. They came in singly, at short intervals, lest they should attract attention, and be massacred before they could perform their Lord's command to spread the glad tidings of salvation throughout the world. ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ In that one moment, while the voices drew ever nearer, grew ever louder, and, in the darkness, a still darker line of approaching crowds of men was streaked, Lazarus seemed able to measure his own stature, and to grasp its nothingness against the boundless stretches of creation. One man among so many, one tiny atom at the feet of mountains! ”

“ Slay him!" cried the multitude, and some of the soldiers crowded round him and tried to take him prisoner. One man even caught hold of his linen robe; but Lazarus, with a twist of his body, slipped downwards out of his garment and fled away in the darkness. Better so, than die while the Lord had need of him. And all the multitude cried out: ' 'T is yet another miracle. This man shall never die." ”

“ The Lazarus ballads illustrate how the people turn Scriptural characters into living realities, by incorporating their own observations on human nature with the sacred text. According to them, Lazarus and Dives were two brothers, both named Lazarus; the younger rich, the elder poor. Poor Lazarus begs alms of his brother: "How dare you call me brother?" retorts rich Lazarus. "I have brothers like myself—princes, nobles, wealthy merchants, who fare sumptuously and dress richly. ”

“ To Lazarus, who believed that Judas Iscariot was about to betray the Lord, the presence of the traitor seemed unbearable. All were paralysed with wonder, expectant of something, yet they knew not what. How could they tell that evening, that repentance and eternal life would be offered to a soul so cramped by greed and avarice that it would reject heaven for hell, and all for thirty pieces of silver? Surely a sorry price for such a crime!
Then, when Jesus saw that none performed the kindly office of washing of the feet, He rose from the table and sent one of the disciples to fetch water. ”

“ It was the third day since Lazarus had left the grave. Ever since then many had experienced the pernicious power of his eye, but neither those who were crushed by it forever, nor those who found the strength to resist in it the primordial sources of life,—which is as mysterious as death,—never could they explain the horror which lay motionless in the depth of his black pupils. Lazarus looked calmly and simply with no desire to conceal anything, but also with no intention to say anything; he looked coldly, as he who is infinitely indifferent to those alive. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Lazarus also smiled as though in assent, and bowed his head a little before he spoke.
“I am obedient to your judgment. It is yours to command and mine to obey. If you say that he must die, let him die. He is my son. Take him. Did not our father Abraham lay Isaac upon the altar and offer him as a burnt sacrifice before the Lord?”
“Let him die,” said the rabbis.
“Then let him die,” answered Lazarus. “I am your servant. It is mine to obey.”
“His blood be on our heads,” they said. And again, the evil smile went round. ”

“ I create. Yes, that is the word ... but I need daylight. I give life to the cold marble, I melt sonorous bronze in fire, in bright hot fire.... Why didst thou touch me with thy hand?"
"Come"—said Lazarus—"Thou art my guest."
And they went to the house. And a long night enveloped the earth.
The slave, seeing that his master did not come, went to seek him, when the sun was already high in the sky. And he beheld his master side by side with Lazarus: in profound silence were they sitting right under the dazzling and scorching sunrays and looking upward. ”

“ Lazarus and Dives. Lazarus, a beggar whose fate is contrasted with that of Dives, i.e. a rich man (Latin) . At their death Lazarus goes to heaven, the rich man goes to hell and begs that Lazarus may bring him a drop of water to cool his tongue.—Luke, xvi. 19-31.
⁂ Lazarus is the only proper name given in any of the New Testament parables. The rich man is not named.
Lazy Lawrence of Lubber-Land, the hero of a popular tale. He served the schoolmaster, the squire’s cook, the farmer, and his own wife, all which was accounted treason in Lubber-land. ”

“ The Black Death and the Brothers of the Cross, These are our foes—and these are everywhere. I who am blind see ruin in their wake; Ye who have eyes and limbs, arise and flee! To-morrow the Flagellants will be here. God's angel visited my sleep and spake: "Thy Jewish kin in the Thuringian town Of Nordhausen shall be swept off from earth, Their elders and their babes—consumed with fire. Go summon Israel to flight—take this As sign that I, who call thee, am the Lord, Thine eyes shalt be struck blind till thou hast spoken." ”

“ 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. ”

“ Then at midnight came another spirit to me, that of an old man, and he took me by the hand and said: 'What doest thou here, Lazarus? Why dost thou still stay near thy home and thy riches and thy vessels of silver and gold? Thou hast much to see and hear, for that thou art dead for the glory of God and shalt live again.'
"'And shall I see Him yet again; Him whom my soul delighteth in?' I asked of the old man. ”

“ If he be the same who, by the mere word of his command, made Lazarus fly away like an eagle from my bosom, when he had already been dead four days, he is not a man in humanity, but God in majesty. I entreat thee not to bring him to me. ”

“ Lazarus said.
"He will eat the Passover at Jerusalem, according to the law of Moses, yet surely they will there surprise Him."
"How can it be," asked Martha, "that Judas, who doth follow Him day and night, doth compass to betray Him? Methinks that even Satan himself would not act thus."
"Nay, Satan doth make others to sin for him," answered Lazarus; "but 't is greed with Judas, the love of money that is the curse of all our nation; that doth even overwhelm the world. ”

“ According to the Opinion of Grotius, in a Citation above, Lazarus for the rest of his restored Life absconded, and skull'd about the Country for Fear of the Jews, who lay in Wait for him; which is a Suggestion, not only dishonourable to Jesus, as if the same Power, that rais'd him from the dead, could not protect him against his Enemies; but reproachful to Lazarus himself, who should have chosen to suffer Death again, rather than not bear an open Testimony to Jesus, the Author of his Resurrection. ”

“ So it was settled that the two sisters should go to the house of the Magdalene, while Lazarus remained in the outskirts of the city, ready to be sent for should they need him, though he knew well that he could do but little, either to give solace to his Lord or to protect his sisters. The last act of the tragedy, that had begun with the creation of the world, was about to be performed. Divine power would not, human could not, bid the actors stay their actions. ”

“ Lazarus returned but to tread in the same pastures, on the same piercing thorns, to battle once more with the same enemy who had lived in the hearts of men while Lazarus died.
None at first durst approach the motionless body ”

“ High place, his position in the Sanhedrim and as a ruler, not only ceased to have any value in his eyes, but aroused in him a faint sense of wonder that he should ever have desired them; while, somewhat to Martha's dismay, large sums were daily distributed in secret to the poor.
"Thou wilt have nothing left at last," she said to Lazarus one day.
"He hath said that I should give to the poor all I possessed and follow Him," replied Lazarus simply. "When all shall have been given, the Lord will provide more." ”

“ Then came Lazarus to a haughty sage and the sage told him:
“I know all the terrors that thou canst relate to me, Lazarus. Wherewith wilt thou terrify me?”
But it was not long before the sage realized that the knowledge of the horrible is not the horrible, and that the vision of death is not death itself. And he realized that wisdom and folly are the equals in the sight of the Infinite, for the Infinite knows them not. And the boundaries between knowledge and ignorance, between truth and falsehood, between height and depth vanished, and his formless thoughts were suspended in emptiness. ”

“ LAZARUS, ST, ORDER OF, a religious and military order founded in Jerusalem about the middle of the 12th century. Its primary object was the tending of the sick, especially lepers, of whom Lazarus (see Lazar) was regarded as the patron. From the 13th century, the order made its way into various countries of Europe—Sicily, Lower Italy and Germany (Thuringia) ; but its chief centre of activity was France, where Louis IX. (1253) gave the members the lands of Boigny near Orleans and a building at the gates of Paris, which they turned into a lazar-house for the use of the lepers of the city. ”

“ Lazarus its first Bishop; which in all Times has preserved it in its Purity, no Heresy having ever been able to get footing in it; and which has always had a singular Attachment, with a profound and inviolable Respect, for the Holy See; has not thought it enough to order publick Prayers in all the Churches of Rome, and Processions, at which his Holiness assists on Foot, to beseech the Sovereign Father of Mercies to appease his Wrath against Marseilles, and cast away the dreadful Scourge which lays it desolate ”

“ And when their short conversation was over, they wended their way home, but their appearance was such that the inhabitants of the Holy City at once recognized them saying:
“There goes another madman upon whom Lazarus has cast his glance,” and they paused raising their hands with compassion.
Brave warriors came rattling their arms, men who knew no fear; with laughter and songs came happy hearted youths; careworn traders, jingling their coins, ran in for a moment; and the haughty temple attendants left their staffs at the door of Lazarus,—but none returned the same as he had come. ”

“ Being in the street, he said: “From to-day, Lazaro, you are your own master and not my servant. Seek another master, and go, in God’s name; for I do not want such a diligent person in my service, who is only fit to be a blind man’s guide.” He then crossed himself as if he thought I had a devil, went back into the house, and shut the door. ”