breasts as if now at length convinced that a great sin had been committed before God and man. Even the executioners, especially their commander, seeing how Jesus had borne his woes and met his death, and with what attestations God had signified his displeasure, were impressed with the wonders of the scene, and, feeling their hearts relent, forgot their mockery, and declared, Certainly this was a righteous man.' But we do not read that the priests were softened. Of a truth, bigotry, state-policy, and sensualism, when combined in one, are harder than rocks, darker than midnight, merciless as death, and insatiable as the grave.

It was now growing towards evening. The sabbath was at hand—a specially holy sabbath, namely, the sabbath in the Passover week. Already preparations for its solemnities were being made. According to Roman usage, crucified persons_remained on the cross till their bodies wasted away. But the Jews were forbidden to let a corpse remain on a tree all night (Deut. xxi. 22, 23). Hence they could not allow the body of Jesus to remain suspended there, especially as the ensuing was a high day. They therefore begged Pilate to hasten the death of the three persons just crucified. He gave orders to that effect. The soldiers accordingly broke the legs of the other two; but coming to Jesus and finding him already dead, they abstained from so doing in his case. Yet in order to make security doubly sure, or in mere wantonness, one of them thrust a spear into the left side of our Lord, when forthwith there came out an effusion which forms in the chest of such as have died a violent death, and, forming not till death has taken place, serves to attest to all ages that Jesus was already dead.

The sun was now rapidly sinking to the horizon; and as he sank below it, the sabbath began. Before the new day, the bodies must be interred. Had no friend interfered, the body of Jesus would, with those of the malefactors, have been ignominiously cast aside into a common receptacle. But there came forward a member of the Sanhedrim, Joseph, of Arimathe'a (Ramah or Ramleh), lying west of Jerusalem, in the plain of Sharon, about ten miles from the sea. This person, a secret disciple of Jesus, begged his Master's body from Pilate, and gave it honourable interment in his own tomb. Nicodemus, also, another member of the Sanhedrim, who had never been able to subdue the impression left on him by Jesus, came with a large, but not unparalleled, quantity of myrrh and aloes for the embalment of the body. It was laid out and buried in the usual manner. A great stone was rolled up to the mouth of the cave in which it was deposited. When all was done, Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of Joses, sat themselves down over against the sepulchre, and kept their straining eyes fixed on the spot where their Lord and friend was laid (Matt. xxvii. 31-60; Mark xv. 20-47; Luke xxiii. 26-56; John xix. 16—42).

Time past, I wander'd weeping on my way
O'er the vain changes of all earthly things,
'Mid life's dull cares, and saw no cheering ray,
And my aspiring spirit droop'd her wings
Earthward in sadness. Holy truths I knew;

And my aw'd soul their sacredness confess'd;
But had not felt, though I believ'd them true,
Their daily influence on my life impress'd.
In sorrow then I sought them-now I know
The cross must be endured from hour to hour,
And bitter though it seem, in scenes of woe
It has a blessed and a soothing power;
Its yoke is easy, and its burden light;

Such bosom-cherished hopes it can inspire,
That thro' the darkest scenes of this world's night,
The faith-enlighten'd spirit can look higher

Unto its rest!-0 thou Example pure,

And untir'd traveller in this holy road,
Still grant thy warning counsel, and secure
My soul shall follow thine unto its God!

According to the chronology on which the foregoing outline is founded, our Lord was born in February or March in the year 750 of the Roman era (U. C.), which corresponds with the fourth year before the Dionysian or ordinary Christian era (A.D. 1, or U. C. 754, Julian era 4714). He entered on his public ministry when thirty years of age, or 780 U. C., that is, 27 A.D.; and was crucified in April, 783 U. C., or 30 A.D. He was therefore thirty-three years of age when he died, and had been engaged in his official duties nearly three years.

Saturday, 16th of Nisan, 7th day of the week, April 8th, A. D. 30.

The priests had enjoyed complete success. Their complacency had not been destroyed by the miracles which overpowered and softened others. Nevertheless, they were not at ease. They could not deny that Jesus had done many wonderful works; they could not deny that an earthquake had darkened the sun and shaken Jerusalem to its centre. As little could they get out of their minds those words which they had misused for their own bad purposes, and which spoke of his rising again on the third day, should the temple of his body be destroyed. Precautions

were clearly necessary. Therefore, the next day, as soon as reflection had taken place of excitement, the chief-priests and Pharisees went to Pilate and entreated him to take measures for making the sepulchre 'sure until the third day, lest his disciples come and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead; so the last error shall be worse than the first.' 'Take a guard,' answered the procurator, and make it as sure as you can.' 'So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.' The course they probably took was this: Fastening across the stone which had been rolled up to the mouth of the sepulchre a bar, they sealed its two ends with clay, impressing on each end their signet, in order that they might know whether any one attempted to enter the tomb. Thus they had a protection even against the Roman soldiers whom they placed there to keep watch. Satisfied now that all was quite right, they retired to their religious duties, for it was a sabbath-day. Yes, most truly and justly had Jesus characterised these men as hypocrites; for while they took constant exception to the good which he did on sabbath-days, here they are, in treaty with a heathen ruler, and employing heathen soldiers and heathen or other servants, on a sabbath-day, in order that their own infamous misdeed may not be frustrated, but Jesus be safely kept in the tomb. And there, in the tomb, did Jesus rest,—safe now, at least, from the raging passions of wicked men. Of small account was it that they sealed the stone and set the watch. These puny attempts to restrain Omnipotence would be ludicrous, were not the subject of the gravest kind. There lies Jesus, and there he will lie so long as it may please his heavenly Father. There, however, he did lie from Friday evening till Sunday morning, that is for three days according to the Jewish mode of reckoning, Friday and Sunday, as well as Saturday, being each taken as a day; in all, however, about three-and-thirty hours. This time passed in a dark damp tomb was of itself sufficient to extinguish life in one who had been crucified, had any spark lingered in our Lord's mangled body, to say nothing that the muffling of the head customary in Jewish burials rendered the resumption of breathing impossible. It is well that the Jews and the Romans combined to keep watch over the tomb during these three-andthirty hours. They thus involuntarily assure all reasonable men that life was extinct in the crucified Jesus; and they by this one act expose the utter groundlessness of all stories, whether of Christ's not being dead, or of his being stolen, or of his in some other way getting again into the sphere of human society (Matt. xxvii. 62-66).

CHAPTER XII.

JESUS RISES FROM THE DEAD, AND APPEARS TO HIS DISCIPLES. Sunday, 17th of Nisan, 1st day of the week, April 9th, A. D. 30.

How long the faithful and affectionate women sat gazing at the tomb of Jesus we know not. The hour came when they were with difficulty removed from the spot. Late, probably, on Friday evening did all the friends of Jesus retire, now too much convinced that tarrying there was useless, and that the last hope had fled. The sabbath-day-a paschal sabbath-could not be wholly neglected, and in duties connected with it they were probably engaged. Yet some of them, at least, could not keep their hearts away from that tomb and him who lay therein. One more act of pious love could be performed; and the women who had so long and so well ministered to Jesus felt a resistless impulse to minister again, though now, alas! only to his cold, lifeless frame. Any how, love will have its way; and so Mary Ma'gdalen, Mary, the mother of James, Joa'nna, Salome', and others, made provision for going early on Sunday morning to anoint his body. They chose the break of day; for that was the earliest time at which, near a public highway, when Jerusalem was crowded with population, they could expect to enjoy at the tomb the freedom from disturbance necessary for their purpose. As these faithful women went on their errand of reverent love, they bethought them of a difficulty-how was the stone to be rolled back from the entrance? Discoursing on this important point, they arrived at the tomb, when, to their amazement, they found the impediment already removed. They entered the sepulchre. Such is the courage given by love, grief, and hope. They found not the body of their friend. Mary Magdalen, without delay, ran and reported to Peter and John that the Lord had been taken out of the sepulchre and laid she knew not where, obviously fearing that he had been carried off by his enemies. These two disciples hastened towards the sepulchre. Again he who loved most outran the other. John came first to the tomb. As soon as he was joined by Peter, the two entered. There they found not the body, but the burial-clothes, including the napkin that had enveloped Christ's head, which lay folded up in a place apart, as if taken carefully off. This, they rightly concluded, was not the act of robbers; as little could it have been done by friends; the hurry in which both would have been must have prevented the orderly arrangement. Hence they formed some notion that he had risen, in which they were probably aided by words of his on the point, which, though they could not comprehend their import, kept ringing in their ears; nor, indeed, is it

impossible that the disciples had held a meeting on Saturdayperhaps in the evening-and discoursed, darkly enough, no doubt, but still so as in some slight degree to prepare their minds for the great event which early the next morning was to give a new turn to their history and a new character to the world.

Before Peter and John arrived, the other women whom Mary Magdalen had left at the tomb received information from two angels that Jesus had risen, and were charged by them with a message to the disciples in general. Retiring, in order to execute this mission, they were favoured with a sight of their risen Master, whose feet they were permitted to embrace, and by whom they were commanded, 'Go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.' The women obeyed the injunctions, and reported the glad tidings to the disciples as they. mourned and wept for their loss; but the words of the reporters seemed as idle tales, and were not believed.

Mary Magdalen had followed John and Peter, and was kept rivetted at the tomb after they left. She wept; for tears were the only language she could employ, and the only relief her swelling heart could obtain. What was she to think? All she knew was that Jesus was not there. Was that really certain ? In such a case true love is not easily convinced. She stooped down in order to cast another glance within, when she beheld there two angels who asked her why she wept. She answered, that they had taken away her Lord, and she knew not where they had laid him. Ere she could receive a reply, she became conscious that some one was behind her; when turning round she saw a form, which in the morning twilight she took to be that of the gardener, who she supposed had come thus early to his labour in the place. The idea rushed into her head that the gardener might have removed the body, and she said, 'Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.' Jesus, for it was he, forthwith pronounced her name, 'Mary!' and that name, uttered in those wellknown and beloved tones, revealed all. Mary needed no more evidence; she now knew that Jesus, the living Jesus, was before her. She answered his 'Mary' by her usual 'Rabboni,' or Master, and the two intimate friends recognised each other by infallible tokens. Knowing that Jesus had been dead, knowing now that he was alive, she felt impelled to pay him higher homage than pertained to man, and offering to take his feet in token of worship, she heard the words from her Lord's lips, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalen came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.'

Such is the outline which the Scriptures seem to authorise of