Holy Supper, He said unto his disciples: "All ye shall be offended because of me this night; for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." Matt. xxvi. 31, 32.

It is certainly wonderful, how many Scriptures were fulfilled in our Lord's sufferings and death, and that the events, moreover, by which they were fulfilled were the free acts of parties wholly unconscious of these outstanding prophecies, or at least without any idea or wish to bring about their fulfilment in Jesus of Nazareth. Little did the Jews design, by arresting Jesus and delivering him to Pilate-to be mocked, to be condemned—his garments parted-to be crucified, and pierced, and thẹn to be buried just as he was buried, to prove that in all and each and every one of these particulars God was ordering the exact fulfilment of the prophecies and types concerning the promised Messiah, and that by their fulfilment in Jesus, it was to be demonstrated that He was the Messiah, God's own Son, our Redeemer.

Again Secondly. Our records clearly authorize us to take up another line of argument in support, historically, of the truth of our Lord's resurrection, namely, from the conduct of the Jewish rulers, as it lies in the history before us. If they had designed to make themselves unconscious witnesses to the truth of our Lord's resurrection, the chief priests and rulers of the Jews could not have done better than they did. For observe, when they heard all that had been done on the morning of the resurrection at the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, they immediately summoned the assembly, and took counsel, and resolved to bribe the soldiers to make a false statement, saying, "Say ye, His disciples came by night and

THE ROMAN GUARD.

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And

stole him away while we slept." Read here the account from Matt. xxviii. 11-15. Perhaps this idle story is not worthy of credit. It scarcely deserves serious consideration; yet you will not fail to observe the sepulchre is under guard, a Roman guard-xovorwdta-which usually consisted of sixty soldiers. How many were detailed for this service we do not know, but the circumstances justify us in concluding it was quite a strong guard. Was it, then, probable that all such a guard would fall asleep at once, and that, too, when death was the penalty for sleeping on guard? Besides, if they were all asleep, how did they know the disciples had stolen away the body, and if they were not asleep, why did they not make resistance, and prevent the body being removed? how could the breaking of the great seal and the removal of the body have been effected without making such a noise as to rouse the sleeping guard? Or, how was it to be made credible that a few unarmed men and women could have overcome, in any way, a Roman guard, and carry away the body? The disciples were not thinking of any such a thing. They had forsaken their Lord and fled, and were so broken in spirit and without hope, that they were still in an upper chamber, "with closed doors for fear of the Jews." And besides, it is marvellous that such a handful of men could have supposed they could effectually conceal the stolen body, if they had succeeded in getting possession of it. If they had stolen it, where did they hide it? Why were they not compelled to produce it? Why did not the Sanhedrim have them all arrested? Why did not Pilate order the arrest of the guard that had so failed to do their duty? The history, it is true, is not full on all these points. But it is quite fair to ask, why was not the missing body sought for? Why was it not produced? The burial linen was left in the tombwas found neatly folded up. There was no hurry or

fright in the coming out of the tomb. No human eye saw Jesus rise out of the tomb, but the evidence that He had risen is positive.

The earthquake and the angels have so completely overcome the guard that they neither see nor do any thing until some time has elapsed; then some of them go into the city and report, and the Jewish rulers invent this idle tale to account for the disappearance of Jesus' body. If there was any shadow of truth in their invention, why did not Pilate charge the disciples with the offence? Or why did they not fly to the rocky shores of the Lake of Galilee, to Herod's jurisdiction? Why were they never taxed with this charge afterwards? The infatuation and want of common forethought in the Jewish council when they put their money into the hands, and their falsehoods into the mouths of the Roman soldiers, really become strong evidences against themselves, and proofs for the truth of our Lord's resurrection.

The following lines from an old Latin poet are worthy of being preserved. The argument may be better than the poetry, but still it is not without merit:

"Speak, ruthless keeper; answer, guard profane;
Your words, I'll show, are wholly false and vain.

If fast asleep, as you presume to say,
Within the grave immur'd, our Jesus lay,
Till stolen from the tomb by daring hands,

Unawed by terror of the Roman bands,
Whose are these clothes, that in the grave remain,
The charge of which two angels don't disdain?
Can you suppose the thief would long delay,

In judging which might seem the quicker way—
To unbind the clothes, and strip the body bare,
Or seize the sacred corpse without such care?
If thieves make haste, and not one moment lose,
What man of sense or reason can refuse,

THE ANGEL PREACHING.

That, in its linen wrapt, 'tis fully proved,

CHRIST'S stolen body must have been removed?”*

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Thirdly. Let us attend to the declaration of the angel to the women at the sepulchre. You remember these women designed to make our Lord's embalming more perfect than they had done, for the want of time on the evening after the crucifixion. They came to the sepulchre early in the morning, prepared with spices. And they said among themselves as they were coming, Who shall roll us away the stone and open the door of the sepulchre ? And behold, there was a great earthquake. (Read here Matt. xxviii. 2-8, &c.)

They did not know of the Roman guard and the sealing of the great stone at the door of the sepulchre. These things had been done after they left, and at the request of the Jewish rulers. These pious women had no thought that Jesus had risen, nor, at that time, was there any such expectation among his friends. They came prepared, after having rested over their Sabbath, according to the commandment, to anoint and embalm his dead body in a more perfect manner than they had been able to do when it was laid in the tomb. You remember it was the tomb of a rich member of the Jewish Sanhedrim - that it was a new tomb, in which no man had ever been laid-that it was hewn out of the solid limestone rock on the hill-side of the garden-there was no passage into it or out of it except by the door, which was closed with an immense hewn stone that rolled into the opening on a grooved runnera heavy hewn stone door that was easily rolled into its place for shutting the door, because for that purpose the

* Quoted from SEDULIUS in Witsius, vol. ii. p. 177, where the Latin may be scen.

groove was on an inclined plane, the descent of which aided the pushing up and closing the door, but of course to roll or push it back so as to open the door would require greater strength. These doors were so arranged that while one man could shut them, it would take full half a dozen men to open them. Nor was the sealing of the stone an unheard of or unusual thing. We read of the same thing in Daniel's life, when he was cast into the lion's den by the king of Persia. In such cases the door was sealed either by closing the two faces together and placing the wax on them, or by sealing the ends of cords that were used in tying the stone in its place, as the ends of cords are sealed over packages by our express companies, or for custom-house purposes. In the case before us there was less trouble, because the great stone was really a door worked in grooves and could therefore be easily sealed. The seal used was no doubt Pilate's official seal, or that of the city of Jerusalem.

Fourthly. Observe the manner of our Lord's resur

rection.

All the incidents attending the rising of our Lord on the third morning must be studied, in order to realize the simplicity and the awful grandeur of the scene. 1. There was a great earthquake.

2. A glorious retinue of angels descended and went into the tomb, and sat watching where the body of Jesus had lain.

3. Our risen Lord left his sepulchre vestments in the tomb: "The linen clothes and the napkin wrapped together in a place by itself," intimating that henceforth He should have no need of funeral garments or adornments, because He rose to die no more, but to put