haste with which the execution had been hurried on. The bargain with the traitor would be whispered about; the midnight arrest in Gethsemane; the meeting of the Sanhedrim, not in the Temple, but in the high priest's palace : the early and hasty trial before Pilate, and the swift execution of the sentence: all these would be discussed passionately in favour of, or against, Christ, during the leisure of that Sabbath. Thousands among them were disappointed. Those who were not the professed followers of Jesus had been ready to follow Him, if He would but make Himself intelligible to them. They were longing for a Messiah; and if He had been such a Messiah as they expected, and could understand, they would have joyfully flocked under His banner, and fought for His kingdom. But He, who might have been dwelling in regal splendour under the roof of the royal palace, had been hung upon a shameful cross between two thieves. They had seen the end of Jesus of Nazareth- -a bitter, ignominious death. Was He not then, what the chief rulers of the people called Him, a deceiver?

CHAPTER IX.

THE SEPULCHRE.

On Friday evening, while Joseph and Nicodemus were laying the body of the Lord in the grave, His aunt, Mary Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala were sitting over against the sepulchre, watching. The other women from Galilee also saw the place where He was laid. Probably they all returned to the city together, to buy spices and ointments for the embalming; and before they separated made arrangements for meeting again early, after the Sabbath was ended. As nothing could be done before daybreak, we may easily conjecture that they agreed to meet soon after the dawn, either in the garden itself, or by the city gate nearest to it.

But upon Monday morning, whilst it was yet dark, over-early or before the appointed time, Mary Magdalene and Mary Cleophas, restless in their sorrow, started off to see the sepulchre beforehand. On their way they were joined by Salome, the mother of John, who was probably staying in the same house as Mary, the mother of Jesus.

They had bought sweet spices, but the other women were to bring them to the sepulchre. No light yet shone in the sky, except the first faint grey of the morning in the east. But possibly they may have seen a sudden light gleaming in the direction of the garden, and felt the shock of an earthquake, like that which had rent the rocks on Friday. If so, they would naturally pause for a while terrified; yet when all was calm again, and the quiet dawn grew stronger, waking up the birds, whose twittering was the only sound to be heard, they would go on, though troubled and trembling, to the sepulchre.

But what had caused the shock of earthquake? The Roman guard, possibly the same that had watched under the cross, and divided the Lord's garments among them, were already looking forward to being relieved from their watch, when they saw an angel, whose face was like lightning, descend from the dark heavens above them, and they felt the earth quake and tremble beneath their feet. He rolled back the stone from the sepulchre they were guarding and for fear of him they became as dead They saw nothing else than the bright, awful face and the glistening whiteness of the form that sat on the stone near them. They did not see Christ quit His tomb.

men.

By the time the two Marys and Salome reached the garden, the dawn was light enough for them to see objects at some distance. They do not seem to have known of the guard being set to watch the grave; for their talk was

only of the difficulty of removing the large stone which filled the opening of the cave. Probably their special purpose in coming to view the sepulchre was to ascertain whether the women alone could roll it away, and effect an entrance without aid. On Friday evening, in the twilight, and overwhelmed, as they were, with grief, they had not sufficiently noticed this difficulty. Now, as they drew near, what was their amazement and dismay to see the stone already removed, and the cave open!

Their fears sprang to one conclusion, and only one. The beloved body of their Lord had been violently taken away-stolen by His implacable enemies-during the night. It had been still further degraded and dishonoured by being cast into the common grave of criminals. Mary Magdalene, leaving the other Mary and Salome, fled back into the city, to seek Peter and John, and arouse them to help, if help were not too late. Very probably these two disciples were lodging in the same house; for at the time of the feasts every dwelling in Jerusalem was crowded with guests. They have taken away the Lord,' cried Mary, when she found them, 'and we know not where they have laid Him.'

In the mean time Mary Cleophas and Salome went on to the sepulchre. They were women past middle life, with the calmness and passiveness of years and sorrows, and they did not shrink from entering into the sepulchre. They had set out, indeed, with the intention of preparing the body for a second burial. But there was no lifeless

corpse there. They were affrighted, however, by seeing an angel, clothed in white, sitting on the right side. 'Fear not,' he said to them, 'for I know that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He is arisen. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell His disciples and Peter that He is risen from the dead; and behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you. Lo, I have told you.' Salome and Mary Cleophas fled from the sepulchre trembling and amazed; and probably passing by John and Peter in their bewilderment, they said nothing to them about what they had seen, but went on into the city, in fear and great joy, to bring the disciples word.

Now, when they were going, some, but not all, of the Roman guard hastened to the chief priests, and told them what had come to pass. A council was immediately summoned; and, after much discussion, they seem to have persuaded themselves that the soldiers had been sleeping, and that as they slept the disciples had stolen away the body. The guard owned to having been like dead men from fright: and none of them professed to have seen Jesus leave the grave. The council gave

them large sums of money to spread about this report, which they did so successfully, that those who thought better of the testimony of two or three heathen soldiers than of that of hundreds of their own countrymen, who had nothing to gain but everything to lose by their testi