so, that your sins appear to be of more than ordinary enor- mity, because of the circumstances under which they have been committed : shall you therefore despond ? Be assured, that He who wept over the murderous Jerusalem a, has lost none of his compassion, but is alike willing to exercise his mercy towards you. He is justly called " the Consolation of Israel :" and, if you seek him, he will be found of you : though you were dead, yet should you live : and if you will truly believe in him, you shall assuredly behold the glory of GodV]
a Luke xix. 41, 42. b ver. 25, 40.
John xi. 40. Said I not unto thee, that, if thouwouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
SUCH is the state of God's people upon earth, that they can scarcely ever come into trying circumstances without discovering the frailty of their nature, and laying themselves open to reproof from their Divine Master. But in all the rebukes which our Lord gave his Disciples, we may notice a peculiar tenderness, like that of a parent towards his beloved child a. In the passage before us he had occasion to reprove the unbelief of Martha : but he could not possibly have done it in milder terms.
In considering this reproof, let us notice,
I. What it spake to her —
She, in her extremity, sent to Jesus, to entreat him to restore her brother Lazarus to health —
[Bethabara beyond Jordan, where Jesus was, was a long day's journey from Bethany. Martha and Mary had foreborne to inform him of their distress, till they despaired of obtaining help for their brother except from his miraculous interposition. In answer to their petition, he sent them word, that " the sickness of their brother should not be unto death ; but that the Son of God should be glorified thereby b." But, instead of attending to the request immediately, he staid where he was two days, and then went to Bethany, and found, that Lazarus,
» Matt. xiv. 31. Mark ix. 3-3—37. b ver. 4.