(It would be tho sabbnth, Bn<l the de.y of the the Ticsnrreclion which so enonunnsly in- Passover.) crco.sod the number and raised the character This terrible, but perhaps merciful, end to of the followers of Jesus. When he wna gone, men reflected on the inimitable lifr, the tortures of the cross seems not to have on the deep, heart-searching teaching, 011 been uncommon in Jewish croctiixion in- the confirmatory works of power; e.nd when flicted by the Roman authority. the news of the Resurrection came. the little wavering, half-hearted band of followers and Crucifixion with this o.nd e.ll its e.ttende.nt horrors we.a e.bolishod by the first Christian hearers became in a fow mnaths a. rrreat host, e.nd in e. fe,v years they had spreacl emperor Constantine in the fourth century. over the then civilized world. There is a 'l'he two thieves e.ppe.rently expirc<l under strange but interesting tradition which tella this treatment. The soldiers, however, when how this Joseph of A:rimathrea came to they looked on the form hanging on the cen- Great Britain about A.D. Gil, aurl seLtled ia tral cross, found the Crucified, as we know, Glastonbury, and there erected a humble Christian oratory, the first in England. Thn dead already. 'l'o make sure of this, one of miraculous thorn of Glastonbury, lc,ng sup- the executioners thrust hie spear deeply into posed to bud and blossom every Christmaa the side of the motionless body of Jesus, Day, was reported to have sprung from tll<l "o.nd forthwith came the1·e out blood and staff which Joseph stuck in the ground a:; water" (John xix. 33, 34). Upon this, in he stopped to rest himself on the hill-top. accordance with the permi.J!sion of the gover- Ver. 53.-And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen. The last sad rites nor already obtained, the body of the Lord of love seem all to have been performed hy was delivered to Joseph of Arimatluea o.nd his friendly bands. Joaeph and Nicodemu•, friends. and those with them, reverently took down the pierced and bleeding body; then, after Vers. 50, 51.-And, behold, there was a the usual ablution, the sacred head 'l"Rs man named Joseph, a ooUilSellor; and he covered with the na.pkin, the soudarion (St. wo.R a good man, e.nd a jllBt: (the se.me had John), and the holy body was "Tappe,[ not consented to the coUilSel and deed of tenderly and carefully in broad bands ot· them;) he was of Arimathma, This Joseph the finest linen, covered with thick J.,yers was a member of the Sanhedrin, o. personage of the costly aromatic preparation of whieh of high distinction in Jerusalem, and evi- Nicodemua ha.d laid up such ample store dently of great wenlth. It is especio.lly (St. John). This was to preserve the love,! mentioned that his vote in the supreme remains of the Master from any corruption council was not given when the death of which might set in before they could pro- Jesus was determined on. NicodemllS and ceed with the process of embalming, which his costly offering of spices for the entomb- wns delayed necessarily until after the ment is only mentioned by St. John (xix. Bl\bbath and Passover day were passed. 3!1). Arimathrea, the place whence this St. John a.dds, "as the manner of the Jews Joseph came, is famous in Jewish history, is to bury,'' probably marking the Jewish being identical with Ramathaim Zophim, custom of embalming and thus preserving the •• Ramah of the Wl\tchers," the native the body, as coutra.sted with burning, which town of Samuel. Each evangelist speaks was the Roman usa.ge. And laid it in a. of Joseph in high terms, and each in his sepulohre that waa hewn in stone. St. own wa.y. "Luke styles him • o. counsellor, John tells us the sepulchre wa.s in e. garden. good o.ud just;' he is th<J KaA~s ,c~-yaBds, the This seems not to have been o.n un•1sua.l Greek ideal. Me.rk ea.Ila him 'an honour- practice with" the great" among the Jews. able counsellor,' the Roman ideal. Matthew Josephus relates of Kings Uzziah a.nd writes of him as ' a. rich man:' is not this the Mana.sseh tha.t they weru buried in their Jewish ideal?" (Godet). And St. John, we gardens (' Ant.,' ix. 10 and x. 3. 2). " He might o.dd, chooses another title for thiM made his gra.ve with the rich" (Isa. !iii. 9). loved man, "being I\ disciple of Jesus:" Wherein never man before was laid. St. this was St. John's idml. In Joseph of John styles it "a new sepulchre." 'fhese Arima.throa and Nicodemus we havo speci- details o.re given to show the.t the Lord'~ mens of a class of earnest and devout J ows, sacrecl body was not brought into contact perhaps not uncommon at that time-men with corruption. who respected and admired our Lord as Ver. 5 t-And that day was the prepe.ro.- a Teacher, o.nd ho.If believed in him as the tion, and the so.bbath drew on. It was tho Messil\h (the Christ), 1md yet from many preparntiou for the sabhath, but mor" e,p.,- mixed and vn.rious motives shrank from cinlly for the great Passover Ft!ast. ::;t. confessing him before men till after the John, for this reason, calls the comin:; cross had been endured. It was not only se.bbuth "e. high day." Drew 011; liter,1lly TTIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [en. xxm. 1-CiG.
l•egan In damn; nlthough the sabbath began dently formed no definite conception. None, Rt suns0t, the whole time of darkness Wl\s however, scorned to hnve thought of tho regn.rd<'<l ns nnticipntory of the dawn. The bodily resmTcction w!Jioh took plnco on the evening of Friday was sometimes even first day of the week-on thnt Bmull\y called "the daybree.k." morning. St. l\fatthew (xxvii. 62-Gli) ro• Yers. 55, 56.-And the women also, which lates how, after the entombment, the chief came with him from Galilee, followed a~er, priosts o.nd P!J1nisecs went to Pilnte nnd and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body asked that the sopulchre might, "until the was laid. And they returned, and prepared third day," be macle sure; and how the Epioes and ointments. The real process of Roman governor bncle them tnko such pro- embalming, the women who wore of tho c,rntions as seemed good to them, These company of Jesus-the Mnrics, Salome, o.nd -his bitter opponents-were more cloo.r- othe1'S-proposed to undertnke as soon o.s sighted tho.n his friends. Thoy had some ti.;e snbbath was passed, thnt is, on the first dim fears of somellli,1g which might still day of the coming week-the Sunday. How follow, while his clisoiples, in their hopeless little even his nearest and dearest friends eorl'Ow, thought all wo.s over. And rested dreamed of o. resurrection of the body I H the eabbath day aooording to the command- seems probable that they expected, at least ment. "It was the last eabbath of the old some of them, a glorious reappearance of covenant. It was scmpuloualy respected" Jesus, but u:hen, but how, they he.d evi- (Godet).