LECTURE XVI. THE RESTORED DAUGHTER. While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them, Give place for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.-MATT. ix. 18-25. scorn. : THREE great instances of resurrection from the dead are recorded in the Gospels, as achieved by him who is the Resurrection and the Life. Two of these I have already examined; I now direct your attention to the last, not the least beautiful and instructive of the three. It appears that Jairus was a ruler, or, as he is called, "px", a chief person or prince of the synagogue. It would also seem, as this miracle was performed at Capernaum, that this ruler Jairus, the father of the maiden who was raised from the dead, was one of the elders spoken of in Luke vii., and who came to Jesus pleading for a certain centurion's servant, who was sick and ready to die. He was there pleading for the restoration of another; he is here pleading—if it be possible to conceive that he realized the idea of a resurrection of his daughter from the deadfor the restoration of his own. And what does this contrast teach us? That sympathy with others in their trials is the earnest of succour to us in ours. The statement that was made by Jairus, when he appealed to the Lord, was, " My daughter is now dead." But in turning to the Gospel by Mark, we find his account to be, "My daughter is even now at the point of death." This seems to be one of those apparent discrepancies in the Gospels which prove that there was not, as has been imputed to the evangelists, a conspiracy among them to write the same thing, and thus to palm a joint imposture on a credulous world. Those apparent discrepancies are the evidence that each evangelist wrote distinctly and separate from the others, that there was no combination to write the same thing, and that independent witnesses of facts are the independent recorders of the performance of these facts; and what seems to be a discrepancy or discord is found to be only a grander harmony when it is really and thoroughly understood. It appears that this maiden, the daughter of Jairus, was so ill that the father rushed to Jesus, fully expecting that she would be dead before he reached him; for be it observed it is afterwards recorded, that the messengers came and told Jairus that his daughter was already dead, as it is alleged in the other Gospel, and that therefore they were not to trouble the Master: showing us that when the father left her she was in that critical state that he was positively sure she would be numbered with the dead before he could have finished his journey. Matthew seizes one part of his statement, "she is dead;" Mark seizes what was no doubt another and preceding part of his statement, “she is at the point of death." Probably when the father rushed with impetuous feeling and paternal sympathy, he exclaimed, as we can conceive in such circumstances, "My daughter is at the point of death; nay, I am sure she is already dead. Pray come; if it be possible, recover her, if living; restore her, if dead." Thus we have not a real discrepancy, but one evangelist recording one portion of the father's remark, and the other evangelist recording the other portion, and both thus giving a full portrait of what actually occurred upon the occasion. Now, while Jesus was performing another miracle on a woman who was diseased, who met him in the way, and whose meeting of him is alluded to by all the evangelists as occurring in the midst of this miracle, certain parties came to him, as it is narrated by the other evangelist, and told the father not to trouble the Master, and that his daughter was already dead: conveying their solemn and natural impression, that however efficient Jesus might be as a physician, they could not expect that he had any power to call back life into the cold frame, or the pulsation of the blood into the still and silent heart. They regarded death as the paralysis of all hope, as the close of all interest, as the distinct evidence that man's power had reached its limit, and that there was no help or cure. But what seemed to man utterly impossible, was not so to Jesus, and the sequel shows it. But before I pass on to the fact of the resurrection of this maiden, let me notice here that we have an instance of death entering into the family of a distinguished, pious, devoted ruler of the ancient Jewish synagogue. We see it legible upon the whole history of the world that death enters into all circles. The happy family of Lazarus, and Martha, and Mary, whose home was so bright, whose sisterhood and brotherhood were so beautiful, is intruded into by death, and the stay, the roof-tree, of the home is snatched away and borne to the grave. We see here death entering into the family of a pious, distinguished, and devoted ruler of the synagogue; and I need not remark that even royalty itself, with all the appliances that art could give, with all that science could prescribe, with all that wealth could purchase, with all that sympathy could minister, has not been able to attain the ripe old-age which peasants and mechanics frequently reach; thus proving to us that the dead level of human happiness has far fewer interruptions than men are apt to suppose. But when we think of death entering into all circles, the circles of the pious, |