OW the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came

together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.' We have, in the 28th chapter, the result of this idle precaution. The watchmen themselves told the facts, who were bribed to say the body was stolen whilst they slept. 'And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.'-MATT. xxvii.

'IN

the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene

and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow; and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay; and go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and, behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with

THE ASCENSION.

251 fear and great joy, and did run to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held Him by the feet, and worshipped Him.'-Matt. xxviii.

T

THE ASCENSION.

(HIS event, the consummation of the Saviour's glory and of the Christian's hope, appears to have been

thought so much a matter of course to be known and believed, that two of the evangelists, Matthew and John, omit to mention it. To prevent, however, any doubt upor the subject, both Mark and Luke attest it, and the fact is again referred to in the first chapter of the Acts. After having finally commissioned His disciples, and supplied them with miraculous powers, His work on earth was finished. 'So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on

the right hand of God.' Luke says, in the twenty-fourth chapter, and He led them out as far as to Bethany; and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.' Thus did our victorious Saviour ascend on high, and lead captivity captive; and being gone into the celestial world, He is there seated on the right hand of God. Let us now prepare for a scene which will be made known to us, not by the testimony of others, but by our own vision, when He shall come the second time, and in the glory of His Father, with a majestic pomp, which every eye shall see, and with the sound of a trumpet, which all the nations of the dead shall hear !-MARK XVI.

N the Gospel of Luke we have an account of an event

the birth of joha the Baptist,

announcing the coming of that distinguished person to his parents. 'There was, in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren; and they were both now well stricken in years. And his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear