pectation of the creature had waited, and for which the dead and the living had lenged in faith: therefore the earth now quaked, the rocks rent, the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept, arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection (1 Cor. 15: 20), and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Even the pagan centurion and his rude soldiers (possibly connected with the Germanic legion which was then stationed in Syria), deeply moved by the signs which they beheld, exclaimed: "Truly this man was the Son of God." And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts and returned.

OBS. The wages of sin is death. The whole human race was made subject by sin to death, both temporal and eternal. Christ, who knew no sin, assumed the task of atoning for the sin of the whole human race. His sufferings are vicarious, his death is a sacrifice. He suffered that which we should have suffered, but which we could not have suffered without being subjected to eternal damnation. It is true that the death which he endured, and the condemnation to which he subjected himself, were both temporal; nevertheless, they perfectly counterbalanced that eternal death and that eternal damnation, which we have deserved, because he obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9: 12), and offered himself without spot through the eternal spirit (v. 14), namely, because his eternal Godhead, personally united with the suffering human nature, gave to these temporal sufferings infinite value, and eternal validity.

§ 156. The Burial of Christ.

As the sabbath commenced on the evening of the same day, the Jews desired that the three bodies should be removed, after their legs had been broken, which was done for the purpose of ascertaining whether the individuals were really dead. Pilate gave his consent. The soldiers, satisfied that Jesus was already dead, did not break his legs (Exodus 12 : 46); one of them, however, pierced his side with a spear (Zech. 12: 10), and blood and water immediately flowed from the wound. Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the council, who had been a disciple of Jesus secretly, in consequence of his fear of the Jews, took charge of the sacred body, after having sought and obtained the governor's

permission, and, with the assistance of Nicodemus, laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock (Isai. 53 : 9). A large stone was then rolled to the door of the sepulchre. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, who had remained at the cross till the body was taken down, followed them, and beheld the sepulchre, and the manner in which the body was deposited in it. On the next day, the chief priests came to Pilate and desired him to command certain soldiers to watch the sepulchre, lest the disciples should remove the body, and then say that he was risen from the dead. Pilate complied with their wishes, and they made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

OBS. 1.-While the sacred body of the Redeemer was thus reposing in the grave, his soul departed to the place (Hades, Scheol, ? 36. 2, OBS.) where all departed souls abide, waiting for the resurrection and the judgment. Even this tribute Christ necessarily paid after the form of sinful flesh, and herein also he was made like unto us. Thus his descent into hell is the last step of his humiliation, but it is also the first step of his exaltation, for at this point defeat began to change into victory, and lowliness into glory. For he did not go thither as all we do, who are kept there until another one redeems us; since he did not suffer death as the wages of sins of his own, Hades possessed no power over him. He went thither, not conquered by death, but as the conqueror himself of death (Ps. 16: 10 compared with Acts 2: 29-32, and 13: 35-37), in order to reveal his glory there, to preach again to unbelievers who were of old, specially the cotemporaries of Noah (1 Pet. 3: 19, 20), to bring to those who had already died in faith, the tidings for which they had long waited, that their redemption was finished (Luke 23: 43), and to take from their number the first fruits of the resurrection, and conduct them to glory (Matt. 27: 52).- The parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus (Luke 16 : 19, &c.) sheds much light on the Christian doctrine respecting Hades.

OBS. 2.- Since the age of Constantine (who died A. D. 337), tradition has permanently designated the localities in which the crucifixion and the burial of Christ are said to have occurred, by churches built on these spots. The present Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the several divisions of which belong to the Catholics, the Greeks and the Armenians respectively, is built on Mount Acra, within the walls of the modern city (2 75. 3). The whole edifice consists properly of

three churches under the same roof-that of the Holy Sepulchre, that of Calvary, and that of the Invention (finding) of the Cross. The middle portion consists of the chapel of the Greeks and of Calvary (Golgotha). It is connected on the west with the grotto of the Holy Sepulchre, over which a vast dome is built; one-half belongs to the Catholics, and the other to the Greeks. The subterranean church' of the Invention of the Cross is attached to the eastern side, and marks the spot in which Constantine's mother, Helena, is said to have miraculously discovered the three crosses, and to have distinguished between them; it belongs to the Catholics. The Armenians possess several chapels, with which sacred associations are also connected by tradition. It was long maintained that the alleged places of the crucifixion and the burial could not possibly be the true places, since both were situated without the gate of the city, according to the evangelists. The latest investigations have, however, discovered evident traces of the walls of the ancient city, on the eastern side of the church of the Holy Sepulchre. It can, therefore, be no longer denied that it is at least possible that these are the true places.

§ 157. The Resurrection of Christ.-Mary Magdalene.

1. Matt. 28 1, &c. It was very early in the morning (Sunday), before the sun had risen, that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, proceeded to the grave for the purpose of anointing the body. But the Lord was risen before they arrived. Heaven and earth had united in giving solemnity to that moment: there was a great earthquake, and an angel, whose countenance was like lightning, and whose raiment was white as snow, descended from heaven, rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. The keepers, who beheld all, shook with fear and fell to the ground.

OBS. 1.- The Redeemer, in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt, could accomplish that which transcends the power of man although he died, he conquered death, and in place of suffering his holy body to see corruption, he exalted it as a new, glorious and blessed abode of his holy and perfected humanity. By dying as a sacrifice, he atoned for the sins of the world which he voluntarily took upon himself, and abolished them; at the same time, he overcame the form of sinful flesh, purified it, and clothed it with eternal glory. Mortality was swallowed up of immortality, and lost in the infinite fulness of his life. The resurrection of Christ is therefore

totally distinct from cases like the resurrection of Lazarus and others; in these the departed soul was only temporarily re-united with the same mortal body that, sooner or later, was again subjected to death and corruption. But when Christ rose from the grave, his bodily nature was glorified, and invested with immortality and eternal glory: "Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him" (Rom. 6: 9). His corporeal nature or body was ethereal and so refined, that it was exempt from the various restrictive conditions and states to which our sinful bodies are subject: thus, walls and closed doors were no obstructions to it; it was commonly, when a contrary result was not chosen by his will, invisible to the human eye, &c. If Christ even partook of earthly food after his resurrection ( 158: 2), it does not follow that he needed it; the cause rather lay in his desire to remove the error of his disciples who supposed that they beheld an incorporeal and ghost-like form or an apparition (Luke 24: 37). See, however, Matt. 26: 29; Mark 14: 25; Rev. 22: 1; Genesis 18: 8, &c.

OBS. 2.-By Christ's resurrection from the dead, he is declared with power to his disciples and to us to be the Son of God (Rom. 1: 4), the conqueror of hell and death, who opened the way for us, and by virtue of his resurrection, will change our vile body also, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body (Phil. 3 : 20, 21; 1 Cor. 15: 20–52). The death and the resurrection of Christ are the two hinges on which the history of the world turns; they are the foundations of the Church, the pillars of the faith, the pledges of eternal life. His death was the abolition of the guilt and punishment of the sins of the whole human race; his resurrection was the exhibition of that new life flowing from him, which renews and sanctifies while it pervades the human race, as the blood flows from the heart, and fills the channels in the body. Our justification depends on his death, our sanctification depends on his resurrection; it is only when both are appropriated in faith that we obtain full redemption (Rom. 4: 25; 5: 10; 2 Tim. 1: 10; Eph. 2: 5, 6; % 193).

2. Matt. 28 1, &c.; Mark 16: 1, &c.; Luke 24 : 1, &c.; John 20 1, &c. - Mary Magdalene had preceded the other women, and was the first who reached the grave. When she saw that the stone was taken away from the sepulchre, and that the latter was empty, she was alarmed, and, taking another road, she ran and communicated to Peter and John all that she had seen (John 20: 1, 2). — In the mean time, the other women had

arrived at the grave; they saw the angel, who announced that the Lord was risen, reminded them of His predictions respecting the event, and promised that they should see Him in Galilee (Matt. 28:5-7).- Peter and John, in consequence of the tidings received from Mary Magdalene, also hastened to the grave. The latter, impelled by a longing expectation, reached it somewhat sooner than Peter, who was usually prompt in his movements, but was now bowed down by the consciousness of his guilt and occupied with his own heart. John glanced into the empty grave, but did not venture to enter until Peter, more decided than himself, had preceded him. These two disciples had scarcely departed, when Mary Magdalene returned alone to the grave. As she stood there weeping, she looked into the sepulchre, and saw two angels, to whom she mournfully said: "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." As she turned away from them, Jesus stood before her; she supposed him to be the gardener, until she heard the well-known voice of love pronouncing her name: "Mary." Full of surprise and joy, she exclaimed: "Rabboni" (that is, Master), and would have touched him; but Jesus said: "Touch me not (uý μov änтov, that is, to adhere, to hold fast to), for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God" (John 20: 11-17).-The Lord appeared also to the other two women on their return, and referred them to the time in which he would appear to them in Galilee (Matt. 28: 9, 10).—When the chief priests learned from the keepers all that had occurred, they bribed the latter to say that while they slept, the disciples had stolen the body away.

OBS. Christ did not permit Mary to touch him, while he commanded Thomas to do so. (John 20: 27, 158. 2.) The following will probably explain the sense and connection of the difficult words addressed to Mary. She is so much excited, so completely controlled by her passionate joy on seeing the Master alive before her, whom she had regarded as lost to her, that she is impelled to embrace him and forcibly retain him, lest he should be torn from her again. But this expression of her love was not free from carnal impetuosity and ungodly self-will. Christ had said on a previous occasion: "It is