Page:Miscellaneous Writings.djvu/352

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326
MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS

sick, cast out devils, raise the dead; for the Scripture saith the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made you free from the law of sin and death.” And they cast him out.

Once more he seeks the dwelling-place of mortals and knocks loudly. The door is burst open, and sufferers shriek for help: that house is on fire! The flames caught in the dwelling of luxury, where the blind saw them not, but the flesh at length did feel them; thence they spread to the house of slumberers who heeded them not, until they became unmanageable; fed by the fat of hypocrisy and vainglory, they consumed the next dwelling; then crept unseen into the synagogue, licking up the blood of martyrs and wrapping their altars in ruins. “God is a consuming fire.”

Thus are all mortals, under every hue of circumstances, driven out of their houses of clay and, homeless wanderers in a beleaguered city, forced to seek the Father's house, if they would be led to the valley and up the mount.

Seeing the wisdom of withdrawing from those who persistently rejected him, the Stranger returned to the valley; first, to meet with joy his own, to wash their feet, and take them up the mountain. Well might this heavenly messenger exclaim, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, . . . Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”

Discerning in his path the penitent one who had groped his way from the dwelling of luxury, the Stranger saith unto him, “Wherefore comest thou hither?”

He answered, “The sight of thee unveiled my sins, and