us the point in question was not so much how far this or that
person advanced in the kingdom of the spirit, as that all should be
convinced that that kingdom exists. "In this rejoice not, that the
spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names
are written in heaven." That is, have confidence in the divine. The
time will come when you will find it.

VIII

THE LAZARUS MIRACLE

Amongst the "miracles" attributed to Jesus, very special importance
must be attached to the raising of Lazarus at Bethany. Everything
combines to assign a prominent position in the New Testament to that
which is here related by the Evangelist. We must bear in mind that St.
John alone relates it, the Evangelist who by the weighty words with
which he opens his Gospel claims for it a very definite
interpretation.

St. John begins with these sentences: "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the word was a God.... And the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, a glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

One who places such words at the beginning of his narrative is
plainly indicating that he wishes it to be interpreted in a very deep
sense. The man who approaches it with merely intellectual
explanations, or otherwise in a superficial way, is like one who
thinks that Othello on the stage really murders Desdemona. What then
is it that St. John means to say in his introductory words? He plainly
says that he is speaking of something eternal, which existed at the
beginning of things. He relates facts, but they are not to be taken as
facts observed by the eye and ear, and upon which logical reason
exercises its skill. He hides behind facts the "Word" which is in the
Cosmic Spirit. For him, the facts are the medium in which a higher
meaning is expressed. And we may therefore assume that in the fact of
a man being raised from the dead, a fact which offers the greatest
difficulties to the eye, ear, and logical reason, the very deepest
meaning lies concealed.

Another thing has to be taken into consideration. Renan, in his _Life
of Jesus_, has pointed out that the raising of Lazarus undoubtedly had
a decisive influence on the end of the life of Jesus. Such a thought
appears impossible from the point of view which Renan takes. For why
should the fact that the belief was being circulated amongst the
populace that Jesus had raised a man from the dead