When he had hastily passed approval of them he turned to Mary and said: "Where is thy finery? Open thou thy chest and bring forth thy treasures also."
In reply Mary opened her chest and took out an alabaster vase of rare design. She laughed as she showed it to him saying, "This, my alabaster box of very precious ointment thou gavest me, is all my chest contains, and the seal of it remains unbroken. Yet do I treasure it against the day when it shall make my wedding veil fragrant as a field of lilies. When I am spoken for I will fill my chest with wedding garments as hath Martha."
"And if thou art spoken for by the King of the Jews, like a queen must thou be decked. Glad am I, my sister, that thou art fair. Aye, just now will I deck thee in my wedding garments and see thee shine," and Martha took from the chest a golden scarf, a spangled veil and some strings of beads. With the gold and spangled cloth she draped Mary. The jeweled girdle was coiled about her head like a crown and her flowing hair was hung with strands of shining beads.
When Martha had finished, Lazarus, who stood by looking on with interest, said, "Thou lackest a scepter, Mary. Take thou the sword," and he rested it against her knee and stood back with Martha to get the effect.
"God of our fathers!" Martha exclaimed with smiling face. "Among all the daughters of Jerusalem none is more fair than our Mary."
"But I like it not. Behold! A sword hath been given me and he that hath been called to bring the Kingdom doth ever teach those are blessed who make not war, but who bring peace. Take thou the sword. It doth savor of Rome, of battle-fields, cries of pain, black wings over far fields of death and little children crying for fathers who will come no more. Take thou the sword."
"Not even in the raiment of a queen canst thou forget the words of the
Master. Thou art queer, Mary," Lazarus said as he took the sword.
"Nor do I like the heavy weight of jewels on my brow nor pearls hanging down my hair. Aye, Lazarus, hath not thy lips just passed the word that the poor breathe curses against Herod because that of their nakedness he doth wear jewels, of their starvation doth he fatten with rich food, of their misery doth come his ease even as these things come to Pilate and to Caesar? Should one woman wear on her brow that for which the peasants of Galilee suffer and sweat and toil? Nay, nay. Not such a Kingdom preacheth the Master."
"Thou and the Master doth love peace. So did our father David. Yet was it not the will of God that he lift the sword most mightily? How can a Kingdom come without the sword?"
"I know not the manner of its coming, my brother. But the Kingdom the Master doth preach cometh first within the heart of man. And if the members of a man's life lift up the sword of disagreement between themselves, will the Kingdom be destroyed and not built up."