The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 453

to their own homes. npbs ub.-oiJs ' con-e- subjective creation of lhe terrifled and weep• llJ'l'~de with Luke xxiv. 12, to the ..-pbs • ,u.-d, ing women, who took white olothoa for men to which Peter returned. Here, ao-ain, thcro or angels, e.n,1 whn~e fancies were rendllt is II Yivid touch of individm~lity.• John's believed; while myt.hice.l hypotheses hl\V8 own home contained the mother of the Lord. auggcBted thflt a glamour of love, JD.l\n:, Around Peter were gnthered the other yenrs after the event, erentcd a po.thetio and 11po,,tlce, e.nd they were Hhortly to be joined beautiful fiction of what may have hnppenod by ,lohn birnsrlf. To them the more detail<'d on the.t rue111omhlo dawn. Every one of rerort of the lo.ngmtgo of the angel would the-so intcrpret:itions ve.niPhes bofore the be re~e.tcd a b unclred times. The •· other authenticity of John's Gospel. The disclplo Mary,' S11lomo, Joanne., o.11 press ihe whom Jesus loved, tho Rnthor of the wondrous e.~surauce upon the eleven, e.s they Apocalypse, wns pers01mlly o.cquRinted with mourned e.nd wept, ,rnd for the most po.rt Mary of Mngrlala, ,md i111d much communion were either bewildered or unbelicYing. The with her, Rnd could heartily believe her two disciples start for Emme.us, e.nd e.11 that storr If there be no spiritual world, no these knew 118 yet Wll8 tbe.t "certain women Irina nor ruodos of existence beyond what we e.fflrmed the tomb to be empty, that they call the seen and temporal, and no thought hn.d eeen e. vision of angels, which declared higher than man's thought; if every testi- him to he alive," e.nd "that certain of our mony to this spiritual world right through company ho.d visited the Fepulch1·e, e.nd iho ages is a delusion, and cnn be explained found it even as the women had said, but e.wo.y; if it he nu irrational or impossible Mm they saw not" (Luke xxiv. 22-24). supposition ;-why, then this vision must pa.as Ycrs. Il-lS.-{2) The revelatwn made to e.way with tho rest. Bot the entire teaching adoring fove, amu,ering to the first portion of of the Bible from end to end revenls and the high-primly p,·aye,·. bee.re witness to &world ordine.rily unseen by V ors. l l, 12.-l3ut Mary, who ha.d followed huma.n eyes, but none the less rco.l. To some Peter and John to the grave, e.nd witnessed the door thus opened into heaven is closed their e.mazement, e.nd the gleam of hope in e.nd sealed by the seven senls of materialism, the face of John, was standing e.t the se- e.gnosticism, tl.ogmatism, sciantism, worldli- pulchre without-not within it-weeping. ness, indifference, e.nd unspirituality. How She had uot overcome her fears. She ho.d uot much do men forget that all human life is grasped the idea of resurrection or life. One but a very temporary, ever-vanishing robe crushing ovormo.steriug grief was still weigh- around a permanent and abiding spirit I that ing hea,·ily upon her, obscuring her vision, it is entirely conceivable that even pure spirit nnd breaki!lg her heart. While she was can come for our advantage into still more continuously weeping, she, o.s Peter e.nd John evanescent forms than those we now possess, had done before her, stooped down (see ver. which yet make appeal to what we call our 5, 110te) to look into the sepulchre, and be- senses of sight and bee.ring I Objective as holdeth two angels in white (1',utcois) or such rue.nifesto.tions are, they are no more glittering garments-the adjective 60 often visible to all eyes or ears than the mysteries used for the precious heavenly things, for of art are open to a.11 human sensibility. The the garments of the glorified (Rev. iii 4, 5, harmonies of heaven are not heard by those 18; Acts i. 10; Rev. vii 9, 13, etc.}--sittillg, who e.re muffled np with ve;ture of decay, the one &t the he&d, and the (other) one &t e.nd there is nothing lying beyond or behind the feet, where the body of J'esua h&d lain. the veil of sense to the unspiritnal. The Here rationalism has come with various ex- whole critical school might have re.mbled pl.anations. Some have e.aid two white-robed about the gv.rden, with hammer and spec- Es..eues like those who a.re also supposed to tacles, and would never have seen an &ngel ho.ve appee.red to our Lord on the Mount of or the risen Christ; but, the.u k God, e.ll eyes Transfiguration, his secret friends, who he.d were not 60 dim. Soma were there who se.w really spirited the body of Jesus away, lin- a.nd believed; e.nd they have revolutionized gered yet in the tomb, a.nd duped Mary by the world's thought. Their vision is the & lying story. Scorning this hypothesis, key of time ; their voice, the word that legendarists have ee.id-Here we see the wakes the dead. This manifestation of the unseen world does not contra.diet the state- 1 .Alford, T.R., e.nd R.T. give fou.-o{,s; ment of Matthew tbe.t e.n angel of the Lord Tischendorf (8th edit.), Tregf'lles, and D:i.le had been seen sitting on the displacecl stone, B:evi~rs read avrovs; Westcott and Hort, &nd terrified the Roman guard ; nor Mark's AV'TOUS, 11SBur&nre that the women had seen a young • This nmge of ,rpl,s OCCUl'll in Josephus me.n clothed in e. white robe, who gave the (' Ant.,' viii 4. 6), in the cJ8,8Sice (Plat., Divine assurance which perplexed the eleven; 'Phed.,' iv. 21; PolybillB, v. 93); but these nor Luke's description of two men elotbed Pre the ouly placea where it occurs in the in glittering appe.rel, who toltl. them tho.t Kew Testameut. the Lord wa.s living. Surely it is impoasible IJII. XX. 1-31.) nrn GOSPF,L ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 4G7