consent. If one angel could slay 180,000 of Sennacherib's X army, what could two do ?
Andrews observes, " We learn tliat between the angels there was no striving for places. He that sat at the feet was as well content with his place, as he that sat at the head. We should learn from their example. With us both angels would have been at the head, and never a one at the feet. With us none would be at the feet by his good will : we must be head-an- gels all ! "
13, — [And they say unto her, Woman, why, etc.] The address of the angels to Mary is that of gentle and kind inquiry. We cannot doubt that they knew well why she wept. They ask the question in order to stir up in her mind self-inquiry, as to whether she had cause to weep or not. " What is the reason of this excessive lamentation ? Search your own heart. Are you quite sure that this empty tomb does not show that you ought to be rejoicing ? "
Mary's reply to the angels is almost word for word what she had told Peter and John, only in the singular number. It shows plainly that the one thing that weighed on her mind was the disappearance of our Lord's body, and her ignorance what had become of it. Of His resurrection she evidently had no idea at present. Her only thought was that his body was dead, that it had been taken away, and that she wanted to know where it was. To this one notion she sticks, and not even the appearance of angels can make her give it up. And yet the good woman must have, often heard our Lord foretell His death and resurrection. How slow we are to give up long-standing prejudices! How backward to receive truths which contra- dict our little private systems of religion I
It should be observed that Mary told Peter and John that "the Lord" was taken away. When she speaks to the angels here, she says, " My Lord." In both cases she speaks indefin- itely of " they," without indicating whom she means.
The calmness of manner with which Mary speaks to these two angels can hardly fail to strike us. She cannot have sup- posed that they were two men only, whether enemies or friends. The mere fact that Peter and John had not seen them in the grave, must surely have shown her that they were angels. Yet she answers their question without hesitation, like one wh» feared nothing in her anxiety about her Lord. May we not however consider that a belief in the reality and ministry of angels was far more common among Jews than it is among Christians ? They perhaps believed too much about them. It may be feared that we go into the opposite extreme, and believe too little,
Andrews remarks on Mary's needless weeping, " All was in error : tears of grief, — but false grief, imagining that to be