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grave for Oh, happy Joseph, to have the honour of providing a shelter for the Lord of life: how well is the room thou gavest Him repaid with "a mansion not made with hands, eternal in the heavens !"

"Thus purely wrapped and sweetly embalmed," the body of Jesus was laid in the quiet grave. During His ministry here on earth He had not indeed had where He could rest His head; and at His death He had suffered with the wicked and the vile; but now He is embalmed by one rich man, and buried by another in his own new tomb. How strange that a crucified person should receive such a burial! But it was foretold in prophecy it had been said by Isaiah that Messiah should be laid "with the rich in his death;" that is, that He should be buried like a rich man though He suffered like a criminal; "because," in reality, "he had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth." How wonderful is this coincidence !

E. When Joseph hewed his tomb out of the rock he little thought, I suppose, what he was doing?

M. No; he meant merely to provide a sepulchre for himself. But he was preparing one for his Saviour; and hence came the fulfilment of a most important prophecy. So easily does divine providence overrule to its own purposes the actions of men, whether evil, good, or indifferent, though they act by their own choice, and think only of their own ends. But thus does God often perfect praise from the most unlikely circumstances. The voice of prophecy speaks amidst the silent dead: it re-echoes from the tomb.

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Having laid the body of Jesus thus safely in the sepulchre, Joseph rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed; not leaving the sacred remains wholly unattended, for Mary Magdalen and the other Mary had followed after, and still lingered for a time about that hallowed spot. But the Sabbath being at hand they too were obliged to go, and return to Jerusalem, to rest according to the commandment, which even their affection for their Lord could not lead them to forget.

Jesus rested, in the grave: the holy women and his other disciples rested also, at Jerusalem: not so the chief Priests and Pharisees. The fierce passions of their souls could find no repose; even on the Sabbath day their malice knew no rest. Though it was that great Sabbath, for which they had professed so high a regard, they went to Pilate requesting him to set a watch over the sepulchre of Jesus, lest, as they said, His disciples should steal him away, and tell the people that He was risen from the dead. Nay more, with the consent of Pilate, they went themselves and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch or guard; for they had heard that He had said that in three days He would rise again; and this His promise they expected to defeat by the measures which they now took.

E. I think I remember Darius sealing with his own seal the stone which had been put at the mouth of the lions' den, to prevent Daniel from escaping.

M. Yes; and several instances of the same precaution occur in ancient history.

E. I suppose the stone was a very large one, and

the guard a party of soldiers that were to watch by the grave?

M. Exactly so: and thus they thought they were quite sure of the body of Jesus; that none would be able to take it away: and if their prisoner had been a human being like themselves, they would indeed have been very sure. In this case how fruitless was all their care! And yet it was permitted by God, and overruled by His infinite wisdom, in order to give the strongest proofs of the resurrection of His Son; and to bring to nothing the daring falsehood of these wicked men, which they afterwards spread on every side, that the disciples stole away the body by night. What a foolish invention! as if the disciples could have succeeded in such an attempt, when they had taken every precaution to prevent it! when the body was laid in a new grave where there was no other corpse; when this grave was hewn out of the solid rock, so that there were no means of entering it from behind; and when its mouth was secured by a great stone, under a seal, and a guard of Roman soldiers under the strictest discipline, any one of whom would have been subject to a cruel death had he been known to sleep upon his post, or to neglect his charge. How vain was it thus to fight against the most High God, who can in a moment bring to nought the devices of wicked men! But we may rejoice that the enemies of Christ took all this pains to prevent His being taken from the spot where Joseph had laid Him, as it gives us such overwhelming proofs of His resurrection; that resurrection, on which our own depends, and on which indeed our whole religion rests. "For if Christ be not raised, our faith is vain; we are yet in our sins.

But now Christ is risen indeed; and become the first

fruits of them that slept."

See Matt. xxvii. 51—66.

xxiii. 45-56.

Mark xv. 38-47. Luke John xix. 31-42.

FIFTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY EVENING.

THE RESURRECTION.

M. I told you last Sunday how the Marys and certain other holy women were the last persons who left the Redeemer's grave: how they had lingered there to the very last, and then were only drawn from the spot by the approach of the Sabbath day. We can easily imagine what a mournful Sabbath it must have been to them; how slowly, how sadly, its sacred hours must have rolled by; and how wistfully they must have looked for the time when they might once more hasten to their Saviour's tomb. We can imagine too the interest, the intense interest, with which they would approach that hallowed spot again. So intense indeed was their affection, that as soon as the Sabbath was past, whilst it was still dark, or only just beginning to dawn towards the first day of the week, they came with sweet spices, that with the earliest light they might anoint His sacred corpse. It was a melancholy visit which they had to pay. From death and the grave we all by nature shrink; and strong, yea stronger than death, must have been that love which could have led two weak and timid women to venture to such a spot under such circumstances, and at such an hour, alone.

E. I wonder they were not afraid of those Roman soldiers too.

M. Their affection for their Saviour seems to have swallowed up every fear, and to have overcome every difficulty which lay in their way. The only impediment, which they seem to have thought of, was the stone which lay at the door of the sepulchre: for they said to themselves as they went along, "Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? for it was very great." Imagine then the surprise of these holy women, when they approached the sepulchre, and, by the light of the then rising sun, beheld that the stone was already rolled away.

E. That was very extraordinary; was it not, Mamma?

M. It was, indeed, for the Evangelist tells us that "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." Great, no doubt, was the astonishment of these pious women; but it did not stop them in their holy purpose of anointing the body of Jesus. Finding the stone already rolled away, the Marys and their companions went into the sepulchre, little thinking what a disappointment awaited them there. The body of Jesus was gone already; and it came to pass whilst they were much perplexed thereabout, "behold two men stood by them in shining garments."

E. Who were they? Could they have been two of the apostles, who had reached the sepulchre before

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