remembered he had said, about " rising again." They resolved, as they thought, to make His rising again im- possible. They went to Pilate. They obtained from him a guard of Koman soldiers. They set a watch over the tomb of our Lord. They placed a seal upon the stone. In short, they did all they could to " make the sepulchre sure."
They little thought what they were doing. They little thought that unwittingly they were providing the most complete evidence of the truth of Christ's coming resur- rection. They were actually making it impossible to prove that there was any deception or imposition. Their seal, their guard, their precautions, were all to become witnesses, in a few hours, that Christ had risen. They might as well have tried to stop the tides of the sea, or to prevent the sun rising, as to prevent Jesus coming forth from the tomb. They were taken in their own craftiness. (1 Cor. iii. 19.) Their own devices became instruments to shew forth God's glory.
The history of the Church of Christ is full of examples of a similar kind. The very things that have seemed most unfavorable to God's people, have often turned out to be for their good. What harm did the '^persecution which arose about Stephen" do to the Church of Christ ? They that were scattered went everywhere, preaching the word. (Acts vii.4,) — What harm did imprisonment do St. Paul ? It gave him time to write many of those Epistles, which are now read all over the world. — What real harm did the persecution of bloody Maiy do to the cause of the English Reformation ? The blood of the martyrs became the seed of the Church. — What harm does persecution
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