In Both WorldsHolcombe, William H. (William Henry)
Religion
In Both Worlds
Holcombe, William H. (William Henry)
Lazarus, of Bethany, Saint -- Fiction
One man, a great patriot, was indignant because I affirmed that all the
Romans did not go to hell. Another, equally zealous for Judea, was
personally abusive because I declared that more people were saved from the
pagan or gentile nations than from the Jewish Church. Another was shocked
because I said the angels were not always engaged in singing and praising
God. Another, an ideologist, scouted the idea that there was any form,
shape or substance to the soul, or even in the spiritual world.
The most ignorant and conceited of the Scribes and Pharisees denounced me
bitterly as teaching doctrines utterly at variance with Scripture and
subversive of the interests of vital religion. On the other extreme, our
worthy old Greek gardener laughed at my narrative as a tissue of
hallucinations, because I had not been rowed over the river Styx by Charon
the ferryman, but honestly declared that I had seen neither Charon nor the
Stygian river.
The majority insisted that I had not been dead at all; that my condition
was only a trance, which had often occurred before, and had been prolonged
to even a greater period. To this the Pharisees added, that it was no
doubt a trick of magic in which I was guilty of collusion, and which was
designed to extend the fame and influence of Jesus of Nazareth.
Some believed in the fact of my resurrection; and the more enthusiastic
went so far as to affirm that my body had been decomposed in the grave.
These were actually angry with me when I declared that, although I was so
far dead as to be living consciously in another world, yet my separation
from nature was not organic and final, my natural body being preserved in
a peculiar manner for a reunion with its spiritual form.
I soon became wearied and disgusted with unprofitable discussions, and
with credulities and incredulities equally absurd. Failing to convince my
hearers, or to elevate their minds into the heavenly light which I myself
enjoyed, I became more and more reserved; and at last I would not speak on
the subject to any one but Mary and Martha.
These dear women listened with unfailing delight to all I had to say. The
divine intuitions of woman recognize always a new truth before the
calculating reason of man endorses it. Martha indeed doubted occasionally
and criticised sharply, but was always satisfied after consulting the
Scriptures and comparing what I related with their sacred teachings. Mary,
full of love and trust, believed unquestioningly every word I said.
When the crowd was greatest and the excitement highest, our old enemy
Magistus, assuming the garb of friendship, came to see me. He had heard of
my death with great pleasure, for he expected to regain possession of the
property and of my sisters. He was at heart greatly incensed at my return
to life, and vowed to wreak his vengeance on the Divine Man who raised me
from the dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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