Through all the six long weeks of her mother's illness at Fairview
Evelyn had been a most devoted, tender nurse, scarcely leaving the sick
room for an hour by day or by night. She bore up wonderfully until all
was over and the worn-out body laid to rest in the quiet grave; but then
came the reaction; strength and energy seemed suddenly to forsake her,
and thin, pale, sad, and heavy-eyed, she was but the shadow of her
former self.
Change of air and scene was the doctor's prescription. She was very
reluctant to leave home and friends for a sojourn in new scenes and
among strangers, but receiving an urgent invitation from Captain and
Mrs. Raymond to spend some weeks at Woodburn with her loved friend
Lucilla, and finding that her uncle and aunt--Dr. Conly also--highly
approved, she gladly accepted; all the more so because she had learned
that Grandma Elsie too, whom she loved even better than ever for her
kindness to the dear departed, was about to spend some days or weeks
with her daughter Violet. That was an added attraction to what Evelyn
esteemed one of the most delightful places, and inhabited by the
dearest, kindest, most lovable people anywhere to be found.
She was most heartily welcomed by the entire family, Lucilla and Grace
being particularly joyful over her arrival.
It was delightful spring weather, and family and guests, older and
younger, spent much of the time in the beautiful grounds or in driving
and riding about the country.
The captain pronounced Eva hardly in a fit condition for study, and for
her sake required his daughters Lucilla and Grace to pass only an hour
or two daily in the schoolroom; so that they were able to give to Eva as
much of their society as he considered desirable for her under the
circumstances--seeing that she needed a good deal of quiet rest and
sleep in order to regain the youthful vigour she had lost during the
exhausting nursing of her invalid mother.
His kindness was highly appreciated by all three, and under its benign
influence Eva made rapid improvement in health and spirits, enjoying
every day of her sojourn at Woodburn, the Sabbath even more than any
other, especially the afternoon study of the Bible in which all took
part, from Grandma Elsie and Captain Raymond down to little Ned.
The subject chosen for the first lesson after Eva's coming was the
resurrection, probably selected especially for Eva's comfort in her
sorrow over her mother's recent departure, to be with her no more in
this life.
"Mother," the captain said, addressing Grandma Elsie, when they were all
seated, each with a Bible in hand, "as you are somewhat older and
certainly much wiser than I--especially as regards spiritual
things--will you not take the lead to-day?"
"Older I certainly am," returned Mrs. Travilla, with her own sweet
smile, "but I think not wiser than yourself, captain; and certainly I
have not made the preparation for this occasion which doubtless you
have. So please lead the exercises just as you would if I were not
present."
"You would prefer my doing so?" he asked.
"Very much," she replied. "The resurrection is the subject?"
"Yes; and what a glorious one! how full of comfort for all who believe
in Christ! 'For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my death my body is
destroyed, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,' said the patriarch Job;
comforting himself in his affliction with that blessed prospect. The
doctrine of a general resurrection is expressly taught in both the Old
Testament and the New, and I think we cannot spend our lesson hour more
profitably than in looking up the texts on the subject. Can you give us
one, mother?"
At that Grandma Elsie opened her Bible.
"Beginning with the Old Testament," she said, "here in Psalms xlix. 15
we read: 'But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for
he shall receive me. Selah.' Then here in Isaiah; 'Thy dead men shall
live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye
that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth
shall cast out the dead.'"
Then Violet, sitting next, read from her open Bible: "'The same day came
to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked
him, saying, Master, Moses said, if a man die, having no children, his
brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now
there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a
wife, deceased, and having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:
likewise the second also, and the third unto the seventh. And last of
all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife shall
she be? for they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do
err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the
resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as
the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the
dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I
am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God
is not the God of the dead, but of the living.'"
Eva's turn came next and she read: "'And the graves were opened; and
many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves
after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto
many.'"
Then Lucilla: "'Women received their dead raised to life again: and
others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain
a better resurrection.'"
"Will the resurrection be of all the dead, Grace? the wicked as well as
the righteous?" asked her father.
"Yes, papa," she answered; then read aloud: "'Marvel not at this: for
the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear
his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation.'"
It was little Elsie's turn and she read a verse in Acts pointed out by
her mother: "'And have hope toward God, which they themselves also
allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just
and unjust.'"
It was Ned's turn now and he read a passage selected for him by his
mother: "'For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;
and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures.'"
It was the captain's turn again and he went on with the reading: "'Now
if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you
that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no
resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not
risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and
we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God
that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead
rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised, and if
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this
life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But
now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them
that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive.'"
"Yes," said Grandma Elsie, "we needed a divine Saviour, and Christ's
resurrection proved his divinity; as Paul tells us here in the first
chapter of Romans, 'And declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.'
Peter too teaches us that the resurrection of Christ was necessary to
our salvation. It seems plainly taught in this verse of the fifth
chapter of his first Epistle. 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us
again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead.'"
"Yes," said Violet, "Jesus said to his disciples, 'Because I live, ye
shall live also.' His resurrection is surely the pledge and assurance of
that of his people."
"Papa, does everybody have to die?" asked little Ned.
"Everybody except those who are alive when Jesus comes again, as he will
some day in the clouds of heaven. This is what the Apostle Paul tells us
about it in the letter he wrote to the Thessalonians. 'Them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of
the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then
we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with
the Lord.'"
"'Wherefore comfort one another with these words,'" added Evelyn softly,
finishing the quotation; "and oh, what a comfort it is!"
"There could be none greater," said Grandma Elsie. "Think of being
reunited with all the dear ones gone before, and in the immediate
presence of Jesus; never again to be parted from them or him or to know
sin or sorrow or pain. Oh, what joy to be permitted to look upon the
face of our Redeemer, to kneel at his feet, to hear his voice speaking
to each one of us. 'Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall
behold and not another.'"