not unfold to us a lovely feature in the
dealings of Jesus--how He adapts Himself to the peculiarities of
individual character. With those of a bolder temperament He can argue
and remonstrate--with those of a meek, sensitive, contemplative spirit,
He can be silent and weep!

The stout but manly heart of Peter needed at times a bold and cutting
rebuke; a similar reproof would have crushed to the dust the tender soul
of John. The character of the one is painted in his walking on the
stormy water to meet his Lord; of the other, in his reclining on the
bosom of the same Divine Master, drinking sacred draughts at the
Fountain-head of love!

So it was with Martha and Mary, "the Peter and John of Bethany;" and so
it is with His people still.

How beautifully and considerately Jesus _studies_ their case--adapting
His dealings to what He sees and knows they can bear--fitting the yoke
to the neck, and the neck to the yoke. To some He is "the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, uttering His thunders"--pleading with Martha-spirits "by
terrible things in righteousness;"--to others (the shrinking, sensitive
Marys) whispering only accents of gentleness--giving expression to no
needless word that would aggravate or embitter their sorrows.

Ah, believer! how tenderly considerate is your dear Lord! Well may you
make it your prayer, "Let me fall into the hands of God, for great are
His mercies!" He may at times, like Joseph to His brethren, _appear_ to
"speak roughly," but it is dissembled _kindness_. When a father inflicts
on his wayward child the severest and harshest discipline, none but he
can tell the bitter heart-pangs of yearning love that accompany every
stroke of the rod. So it is with your Father in Heaven; with this
difference, that the earthly parent _may_ act unwisely, arbitrarily,
indiscreetly--he may misjudge the necessities of the case--he may do
violence and wrong to the natural disposition of his offspring. Not so
with an all-wise Heavenly Parent. He will inflict no redundant or
unneeded chastisement. Man _may_ err, _has_ erred, and _is_ ever
erring--but "as for God, His way is perfect!"

XII.

THE WEEPING SAVIOUR.

The silent procession is moving on. We may suppose they have reached the
gates of the burial-ground. But a new scene and incident here arrest our
thoughts!

It is not the humiliating memorials of mortality that lie scattered
around,--the caves and grottoes and grassy heaps sacred to many a
Bethany