Ruth no sooner heard his voice than she uttered a shriek of joy. "He
lives--he indeed lives!" and springing forward, she was saved from
falling to the ground by being clasped to his manly breast.
"Let us kneel and thank God!" he said.
For a few minutes the scene was solemn and touching beyond any
spectacle ever exhibited on earth.
When he had performed this first sacred duty, he rose to his feet and
received all our embraces. Hundreds came in to see his face, and every
tongue was eloquent in praise of the power of Jesus.
"And where is the holy Prophet?" I asked of Mary. "Shall he be
forgotten amid all our joy!"
"We thanked him there with all our hearts, and bathed his hands with
tears of gratitude," she answered, "but when they would have brought
him into the city in triumph he conveyed himself away in the confusion,
and no one could see aught of him. But John, who was with him, told me
he would come into the city after quiet was restored, by and by, and he
would bring him to our abode."
"Oh, I shall then behold him and thank him also!" I cried. "Make known
to me, Mary, the particulars of this wonderful miracle."
"As we went weeping forth," said Mary, "slowly following the bier, and
had passed the gate, we saw coming along the path through the valley
leading to Tabor, a party of twelve or thirteen men on foot. They were
followed by a crowd of men, women and children from the country, and
were so journeying that they would meet us at the crossing of the stone
bridge. Hearing some one say aloud, 'It is the Prophet of Nazareth,
with his disciples,' I looked earnestly forward, and joyfully
recognized Jesus at their head, with John walking by his side.
"'Oh, that Jesus had been in Nain when thy son was sick!' I said to the
widow, pointing him out to her, as he and his company stopped at the
entrance to the bridge. Recollecting how he might have prevented her
son's dying had he been in Nain, the poor lady could no longer command
her grief, and covering her face with her veil, she wept so violently
that all eyes were piteously fastened upon her. I observed that the
holy Prophet's gaze rested upon her with compassion, and as she came
opposite where he stood, he advanced towards us and said, in a voice of
thrilling sympathy:
"'Weep not, mother. Thy son shall live again!'
"'I know it, O Rabboni, at the last day,' she answered. 'Oh, if thou
hadst been here my son need not have died! Thy word would have healed
him! But now he is dead! dead! dead!'
"'Woman, weep not! I will restore thy son!'
"'What saith he?' cried some Pharisees who were in the funeral. 'That
he will raise a dead man? This is going too far. God only can raise the
dead.' And they smiled and scoffed.
"But Jesus laid his hand upon the pall over the body, and said to those
who bore the corpse:
"'Rest the bier upon the ground.'
"They instantly stood still and obeyed him. He then advanced amid a
hushed silence, and uncovering the marble visage, touched the hand of
the dead young man, and said, in a loud and commanding voice:
"'Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!'
"There was a moment's painful stillness through the vast multitude.
Every eye was fixed upon the bier. The voice was heard by the spirit
of the dead and it came back to his body. There was at first visible
a living, trembling emotion of the hitherto motionless corpse! Color
flushed the livid cheek; the eyelids opened and he fixed his eyes on
Jesus; then he raised his hand and his lips moved! The next moment he
sat up on the bier, and spake aloud in his natural voice, saying:
"'Lo, here I am!'
"Jesus then took him by the hand, and assisting him to alight upon his
feet from the bier, led him to his mother, and delivered him to her,
saying:
"'Woman, behold thy son!'
"Upon seeing this miracle the people shouted with joy and wonder, 'God
has indeed visited his people Israel! A great Prophet is risen up among
us! The Messias is come, and Jesus is the very Christ, with the keys of
death and hell!'
"I sought out Jesus to cast myself at his feet, but he shrunk from the
homage and gratitude which his mercy to us had awakened. Thus humility
is an element of all power."
Such, my dear father, is the narrative of the restoration to life again
of Samuel, the son of Sarah, widow of Nain. This miracle has caused
hundreds this day to confess his name, and to believe in Jesus as the
anointed Shiloh of Israel.
Many of the doctors have been to see Samuel through the day, and have
put profound questions to him touching the state of the soul out of the
body, but he could give them no satisfaction, all appearing to him like
shining fragments of a gorgeous vision.
Mary is to-morrow to become the bride of John, and Jesus will be
present at the wedding, for while he severely rebukes sin and folly, he
sanctifies by his presence the holy rite of marriage.
On the eve of the eighth day from this I shall depart hence, with John
and Mary, for Jerusalem, whence I will write you again.
Your loving daughter,
Adina.