siding with the "King of the Jews," who had been condemned as a tumult-maker! And still worse, what hatred and ignominy from his own people and his own colleagues he was dragging down upon his head! But he could not let such thoughts restrain him. Jesus had inspired him with so deep a reverence that he could not suffer his mortal remains to be left hanging on the cross, and then after a while be thrust in shame into the earth. If he had been unable to rescue him, or if the sudden catastrophe had so taken him by surprise that he had not even attempted any thing, he would at least do all that still remained.

The procurator granted his request (which was probably backed, according to the custom of the time, by a considerable sum of money), and gave him a written order to the officer at Golgotha, or else despatched a messenger with him. Mark, indeed, tells us that Pilate was astonished to hear that the Nazarene was dead already; that he sent for the officer in charge, and when he learned from him that Jesus had been dead some time, granted Joseph's request. But this seems highly improbable when we consider the short space of time in which the whole transaction was completed, and the absolute necessity of the responsible man remaining on the spot at Golgotha, where the two robbers still hung alive upon the stakes.

Enough! Joseph went with a few dependants to the hill. The centre cross was loosened and laid upon the ground, the nails were drawn out, the cords cut through; and, since Golgotha at that moment was an utterly unsuitable place in which to pay due honors to the dead, the body was immediately laid in the usual open coffin. The near approach of the Sabbath would prevent all but a very few from following the coffin as it was borne to a place hard by, where Joseph possessed a sepulchre hewn out of the rock, or had obtained leave to use it on this occasion. The later tradition adds, in honor of Jesus, that it was a new sepulchre in which no one had as yet been laid.1 Here reverent and careful hands cleansed the body from blood, wrapped the head in a napkin, and shrouded the limbs in broad strips of linen. If under any circumstances a body that had been so mangled would have been deemed suitable for embalmment, now at any rate there was no time for it. It was needless. All was done that friendship and reverence could do for him whose death was mourned with such unutterable woe, and nothing essential was wanting to the last honors paid him.

1 See p. 361.

So now the stiffly-shrouded corpse was carefully borne into the cave, and laid in one of the niches in the side. According to Jewish wont, the mouth of the sepulchre was closed by a great stone or mass of rock, which served as a door and protected the tomb from violation by beasts of prey. This stone would be left unmoved until another corpse, belonging to the possessor's family, should be brought there likewise to its place of rest. The mournful duty was now done, and in the deep affliction of his soul the bold and faithful friend turned homeward.

Meanwhile the evening had quite set in and the Sabbath had begun. This was an hour, especially at Jerusalem, of joyous, consecrated rest. The Sabbath lamp was lighted, the Sabbath garments donned, and the Sabbath meal prepared with more than usual sumptuousness in honor of the feast and the innumerable guests. As they reclined at table, the members of the Council and many of the Pharisees besides might rehearse the day's events with a feeling of satisfaction and relief, and might thank the Lord for his mighty help and the unmistakable signs he had given them of his satisfaction with their zeal in his honor.

Outside there, by the sepulchre, all was still and cold and lonely, and yet not altogether deserted. The moonlight revealed two female forms, bent down in speechless agony, and the stillness of the night was only broken by their sobs. They were Mary of Magdala and her namesake, the faithful friends who had followed Jesus from Galilee. Had they accompanied the bier from the hill of death? Or had they not heard till later on what Joseph had been doing? There they sat now, over against that cave, and could not tear themselves away. What was not hidden there, behind that stone, for ever! What inestimable treasures destroyed by rude and wanton hands! What glorious promises dashed at once and for ever!

And we too stand with them in thought; and as we gaze upon that stone and think of him who lies behind it, conceptions and emotions rush upon the brain and heart, and force the lips to utterance. Rest sweetly from thy toilsome work, thou noble benefactor, deliverer of mankind, great son of God! Thy triumph is secure. Thy name shall be borne on the breath of the winds through all the world; and with that name no thought except of goodness, nobleness, and love shall link itself in the bosoms of thy brothers who have

learned to know thee and what thou art. Thy name shall be the symbol of salvation to the weak and wandering, of restoration to the fallen and the guilty, of hope to all who sink in comfortless despair. Thy name shall be the mighty cry of progress in freedom, in truth, in purity, - the living symbol of the dignity of man, the epitome of all that is noble, lofty, and holy upon earth. To thy name shall be inseparably bound that ideal of humanity which thou didst bring into the world, and which can never be rejected from it more. Thy life was short, yet in it thou didst more than any one of all thy brethren to uplift the lives and souls of men. And now that thou art dead, it shall be seen that they for whom thou didst give thyself up to the very death are not ungrateful. From thy cross goes forth a power which is slowly but surely regenerating the world. Thy spirit, which remains behind, shall fulfil thy task. The future is thine own. Thou great deliverer, thou monarch in the realm of truth, of love, of peace, we do thee homage!

Воок ІІ.

THE APOSTLES.

CHAPTER I.

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.

MATTHEW XXVII. 62-XXVIII.; LUKE XXIV. 13-53; Acts I. 3-14; 1 CORINTHIANS XV. 3-8.1

O Jesus and his cause appeared to have been finally

had smothered the Messianic agitation. The prophet of Galilee had paid, by a malefactor's death, for his audacity in coming to Jerusalem itself to preach his gospel and unfurl his banner of freedom and of the spirit, for his heroic effort to make God's kingdom come. Who was there left to take up his task? His best disciples and his closest friends were fugitives and apostates.

66

Yet hopeless as things seemed to be, the unshaken confidence with which Jesus had faced his lot was justified by the event. From his momentary defeat he rose again with wider and deeper influence than ever. Were there no danger of misunderstanding, we would gladly use an expression of his own, and speak of this as his "rising again or resurrection." But this word is commonly used to signify something very different from his triumph after defeat. For when the faith of the Apostles and other disciples, recovering from the shock under which at first it had tottered and collapsed, appeared once more in renovated strength, it took the form of a belief that Jesus had risen up from the dead and ascended to heaven. This is what is generally meant by the "Resurrection;” and if we were to employ the word, it might seem as though we accepted this early belief as an historical fact.

1 Mark xvi.; Luke xxiv. 1-12.

2 Compare pp. 328 f., 350.

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