hensions, without staying for farther inquiry, to have hastened back to Peter and John and said, "They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him." The others remained behind: and having recovered from their first surprise, proceeded farther to enter into the sepulchre, where the angel was seated.

6. And he saith unto them, be not affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here; behold the place were they laid him.

7. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee; there ye shall see him, as he said unto you.*

8. And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.

Their consternation, the mixture in their minds of hope and fear, prevented their relating what they had seen and heard to any man whom they met in their way back to the disciples. And the astonishment of the disciples was no less than their own. It is evident from the whole narrative, that they were not waiting in expectation that they should hear what the women now came to tell. "For as yet they knew not

the scripture, that he must rise When the intelligence reached

from the dead." 5 them, instead of confirming their expectations, it renewed their doubts. Mary Magdalene had been already to them, and told what she had seen; the sepulchre open, and the stone rolled away. Now

3 John xx. 1, 2.

4 Ch. xiv. 28.

5 John xx. 9.

other witnesses arrive, with fuller tidings. They had found in the sepulchre a young man clothed in white, with an appearance like that on Mount Tabor, when the raiment of Jesus shone "exceeding white like snow;"-who had spoken like the angels to the shepherds, when they first announced the birth of the Messiah, and said, "Fear not." So now the angel; Be not affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified; ye come not as enemies to insult, but as friends to anoint his body. But he is risen; he is not here; behold the place where they laid him; behold and see that its inhabitant is gone, and has proved the truth of his assertion, that though they might destroy that holy temBut go ple, he would raise it again in three days. But your way; tell his disciples, and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

On the last occasion of intercourse with the disciples, when they kept the Passover, Jesus had foretold how the shepherd should be smitten, and the sheep scattered abroad: and then added, in words which they were unable to comprehend, "After I The am risen, I will go before you into Galilee."6 angel now commands that they should be reminded of these words. Tell them to his disciples, and Peter. And was not Peter a disciple? Perhaps he scarcely dared consider himself as such, after his sad apostasy. He had denied all knowledge of his Lord; and would his Lord acknowledge him?

6 Ch. ix. 3.

II 2

Yes: he is " touched with our infirmities;" he has pardoned the weakness of his repentant servant; he has still a commission to entrust him with, and will enable him to show, by a life of faithfulness, that the grace bestowed on him had not been bestowed in vain.

Thus did Christ rise from the dead, and "become the first fruits of them that slept :" the first to rise, giving the assurance that all should rise. He fulfilled his own prophecy, so often repeated, but so little understood, that he must be delivered to the Gentiles, and killed, and rise again the third day. And he also explained the words of David, who had written, "Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, neither shalt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."7

The meaning of these words had not hitherto been fully comprehended. But the resurrection of Jesus has interpreted them: and they may now afford consolation to the survivors who mourn over their departed friends. For though in one respect the promise which concerned "the Holy One" does not extend to his disciples; their "vile body" must perish; ashes must mingle with ashes, and dust with dust still may our "heart be glad, our flesh also shall rest in hope." "If we believe that Jesus died

and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus "He shall change our

him."9

may be no longer vile, but

will God bring with vile body, that it

7 Ps. xvi. 10.

8 lb. v. 9.

91 Thess. iv. 14.

to

fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body,' dwell for ever in that presence where "is fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore."

LECTURE XCVI.

SALVATION BY FAITH IN CHRIST.

MARK XVI. 9—16.

9. Now when Jesus was risen, early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

10. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.

11. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

12. After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.

13. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

14. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

Mary Magdalene, after hastening to communicate to the disciples what she had seen, how the stone was

1 Phil. iii. 21.

rolled away from the sepulchre, returned to the spot, and as she was weeping near it, Jesus addressed her with his well-known voice, and bid her acquaint the disciples that he was risen.' Thus she was the first to behold the person of her Lord. The other appearance here mentioned is fully related by St. Luke. Cleopas and another disciple, on the evening of the resurrection, were on their way towards Emmaus, a village about eight miles distant from Jerusalem, when Jesus drew near and joined himself to them. He first "expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things relating to himself." And then, having opened their eyes, and permitted them to know him, he "vanished out of their sight." The two disciples hastened back to Jerusalem, and were relating what had happened to the eleven as they sat at meat, when Jesus suddenly appeared in the midst of them, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he had risen.3 Even then they "wondered, and believed not for joy," afraid to trust their senses in a case so new and so surprising, so beyond their hopes, so contrary to their fears.

At length all doubt was removed, and the most sceptical were satisfied that he who had "yielded up the ghost" upon the cross, and whose death had been proved by the soldier who pierced his side, was now again living, the spirit again animating the same body which had died. They were then in a state of mind to be entrusted with that work for which they

See the narrative in St. John, xx. 14-18. 2 Luke xxiv. 13-33.

3 Ib. 36-41.