him in the cerements, and laid him in the coldness of the tomb. Was it strange, then, that the sun suffered an obscuration when the Saviour expired, that the sky put on mourning when the Lord of glory gave up the ghost, or that the frame of nature shook when the Divine Upholder of its system died? Was it strange that rocks rent as if in commiseration of what might rend even a heart of stone? Was it strange that graves opened and their ghastly occupants came forth, and with bloodless face and skeleton form entered the holy city, and moved through the streets in grand and solemn silence, or flitted as strange and fearful apparitions among the living population that passed along the thoroughfares, when he who was the living One, having all life in himself, entered the abode of death and was laid in the grave? Long before, a dead man had started into life, when he was laid in a prophet’s grave and touched a prophet’s bones,’ Was it strange if the dove cooed plaintively in the valley of the Kidron, if the vine drooped mournfully on the hillside, if the brook murmured dolefully as it rolled over its pebble bed that night? Was it strange that the disciples hung their heads in sorrow, in sadness, and in silence, when their Master was entombed? ‘Come, see the place where they laid him,” and “where the Lord lay;” and will not love beget love? Will you not love him who thus loved you, or rather can you forbear loving him who thus loved you first of all and best of all? Who ever heard of love like this before? ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends ;” but while we were yet sinners, and therefore enemies, “Christ died for us,” (8) “Come, see the place where the Lord lay,” and reflect on a third lesson which is taught us there. This lesson respects the ight that is thus shed into the gloom of the grave, and into the dreariness of that dark and narrow house. Darkness had reigned in all deathland before, but then life and immortality were brought to light. In some
laces, where railways run beneath high hills, all at once you pass out of the light of
y into a dark subterranean parcage. In moment or two you find that tunnel not so dark as at first you thought it; the lamps on either side relieve the gloom and inter- rupt the darkness, By-and-by you quit the tunnel and emerge into the light of day, brighter and more beautiful, you think, than before because of the very contrast. The grave was a dark subterranean passage once; no light entered it, no ray brightened it; but now lamp after lamp is hung up in it, and on the other side the Christian finds himself in the everlasting light and unclouded brightness of heaven.
Ill. THe GRAVE WHENCE THE LoRD ROSE: THE RESURRECTION OF Onrist. 1. Honour shown Christ in death. “ Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen ; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him; ” and mark the honour paid him there. Even in death he was not unhonoured. A few faithful females, a few devoted though dejected disciples, refused to believe that the past was only a delusion, the present merely a dream, and the future altogether darkness. They entertained an undefined expectation, and that expectation ,now glimmered before their mind’s eye like the meteor of a moment, anon disappeared, leaving the gloom still denser. It was a dark hour with the disciples of our Lord, but it was the hour before the day- break. ‘These few faithful followers, however, ceased not in their attention to the body and attendance at the grave. They watched and waited, and visited the spot. The Jewish ruler Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathza, a rich and honourable coun- sellor, a8 we saw in the preceding chapter, failed not in tender devotedness and affectionate dutifulness to the lifeless corpse. 2. Honour of @ higher kind. Greater glory awaits that body. The resurrection work of wonder takes place. Scarce had the morning of the third day arrived, scarce had the morning-star announced its early dawn, when the mediatorial reward began to be bestowed, and the faithfulness of the eternal covenant became manifest. Come once more, and see the place where the Lord lay, and as it can never be seen again. There—O wondrous sight !—lies the Prince of life ; he is sleeping the sleep of death—silent and still as the grave where they laid him. Satan exults, the hosts of darkness hold jubilee, all pandemonium triumphs, hell cannot contain its satisfaction, if aught like satisfaction ever enters there. But hark! a voice from heaven echoes through that sealed sepulchre; it is the voice of God. The words “ Awake, arise!” resound. In an instant the grave-clothes drop from off the body ; without the help of human hand they are wrapped together and carefully laid aside; the napkin falls from the face; the stream of vital fluid circulates through the veins ; the limbs that a moment before had been stiff and stark in death are in motion, The
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866 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [om. xvi 1—20.
a
form of sinful flesh—of a servant and a sufferer—is laid aside for ever. The Saviour rises ; he rises in glory indescribable; he rises by his own and his Father’s power; he rises triumphant over death, and the Conqueror of the grave. The angels of God come down to do him honour; one of them rolls away the stone and opens the sepulchre; the keepers shake and become as dead men; earth becomes tremulous for joy under the feet of its risen King; all nature puts on its fairest spring attire and joins in celebrating the Redeemer’s triumph. ‘Thus on all sides are re-echoed the words, “ He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” 3. Positive proof of his resurrection. If you have any doubt of this, you need not go further for proof, and proof to demonstration, than the lie of tue adversaries. “ His disciples,” say they, “came by night, and stole him away while we slept.” What! eleven disciples overpower 8 company of Roman soldiers armed to the teeth, or roll away the huge stone in silence, or enter the tomb in secrecy, or range things so securely there? Or, granting this, how could they carry the body unnoticed through the streets of Jerusalem, while thousands bivouacked in or patrolled those streets and thoroughfares at that Passover season, and while the full-orbed moon shone down upon the scene? Or, allowing this, is it likely that Roman soldiers would sleep on guard while death was the penalty, or that a whole detachment of them should all fall asleep at the same time? Or, conceding even this, suppose they slept, how could they see the purloiners of the body, or how could they say whether disciples did it or not? We need not stay to answer these questions; they sufficiently show the truth of the state- Ment, “ He is not here: for he is risen.”
,, LV. R=ASONS FOR THE RESURRECTION OF oUR Lorp. 1. It was necessary for fustifi-