"whose countenance is like lightning, and h:S raiment white as snow," and prostrate on the ground are the Roman sentries, The women sta.rt, but the assuring word, "Fear not ye," is spoken, and the invitation (Matt. xxviii. 6) is given to "come and see the place where the Lord lay." Yes, guardians, and only guardians, are these-one where the head, another where the feet, of Jesus had been-token of the complete, protecting care of hi11 Father. And theso guardians ask (vers. 5-7), "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" and repeat the testimony," He is not here: he is risen," bidding them remember his own words, and bear the news of the Resurrection to the sorrowing com- pany. It is with fear and great joy that they depart, running to bring the disciples word. They encounter scepticism. Their hot, eager sentences (ver. 11) seem to the apostles "as idle tales, and they believe them not." Peter a.nd John, however, have already obeyed the importunate pleading of Mary. And there, to be sure, as they reach the sepulchre, is the open door. John, who is first, looks in without entering; Peter, coming up, enters at once. "John," observes Matthew Henry, '' conld outrun Peter, but Peter could out-dare John." Undoubtedly the tomb is empty. Examining it, they discover (ver. 12) the linen clothes laid by themselves; and the napkin which had surrounded the head laid by itself. There had been no haste. Not thus would any have acted who had bome away the sacred form. Peter, after minute examination of the sur- roundings, "departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass." John, with the quick intuition of love, not only wondered, but believed-felt sure that these grave-clothes were the sign of a victory. Such is the account of that ever-memor- able morning. The arrangement of its events may not be absolutely accurate; in the ignorance of all that occurred, it is impossible to supply every link in the chain of narrative. The evangelists are so filled with the one reality, "He is risen," that they are not careful as to the minutia, of the circumstances. On the Resurrection, as personal, as real, the structure of Christian life and doctine is reared. By the effect of the Resurrection the apostles were transformed. The foolish and slow-hearted fishermen of the past became the princes of a new and heavenly kingdom. "With. great power they gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all." II. But WITHOUT FURTHER DWELLING ON THE EVIDENCES OF THE RESURRECTION AS AN HISTORICAL FACT, CONSIDER IT AB A MIGHTY SPIRITUAL FORCE. Consider what the apostle calls "the power of the Resurrection." What is the central truth of the forty days between the Resurrection and Ascension? Study the brief account of these forty days, and you see at once a change in the manner and conditions of the re,ela- tion of Christ. He shows himself only to chosen witnesses. St. Mark says that he appeared to the disciples "in another form." The eyes of the disciples are declared to be so held (ver, 16) that they do not know him. It is the same Jesus, but much i11 altered. "He came and he went as he pleased; material substances such as the fastened doors were no impediment to his coming; when he was present his disciples did not, as a matter of course, know him." These forty days were what the sunrise is to the day; they were the beginning of the relation in which he stands to bis Church now. All his self-revelations are pictures of the way and truth of his presence as we are called to realize it. Men bad seen him without knowing him ; now they know him without;seeing him. We behold him, as Newman bas finely said, "passine; from his hiding-place of sight without knowledge to that of knowledge without sight." As a transition-time, giving us intimations of the glory in which he is abiding and of the grace in which he is dealing with us, regard the period that was ushered in by the early morning of the first day of the week. It was a great day. Four appearances 11re noted. The first (John xx.), to Mary of Magdala, followed or preceded, perhaps, by an appearance to the other women (Matt. xxiii.); the second (vers. 13-35), to the two brethren journeying to Emmaus; the third, to :Simon Peter (ver. 35); and the fourth (John xx. 19-23), to the disciples assembled at night when the doors were shut for fear of the Jews. Each of these appearances is significant. St. Luke relates the second. One remark only as to Mary of Magda.la. Renan has asserted that the glory of the Resurrection belongs to her; that," after Jesus, it is Mary who bas done the most to the founding of Christianity." There can be nothing more contrary to the explicit 1 man's statements of the evangelists than much that is contained in the brilliant French- stateru~ut, But the message of Mary is iuclced the basis of the faith of the ' 280 THE GOSPtL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE, [on. :n1v. 1-53,
Church, the basis of the faith of humanity. "If Christ is not risen our hope is vain ; we are yet in our sins." And the commandment which sent her' to the disciples ia the inspiration of all Christian hearts. "Go, tell my brethren." Tell the message of the risen Lord in the light with which the countenance is irradiated• tell it in the glad obedience by which the life is sanctified; tell it through all that you do and are; t.ell-let your teaching cease only with your breathing-that Christ has risen, that the imprisoning stone has been rolled away, and the kingdom of heaven is open to all believers, its gates being closed neither by day nor by night, for there is no night there.