The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-10-23


that the gardener, for his own convenience,
perhaps, might have removed the body to
another place. JESUS, whom she had taken
to be the gardener, now familiarly speaks
her name, "Maryp' She is no doubt startled,
not alone by the supposed apparent familiar
ity of the strange gardener, but by the famil-
lar accent of the utterance She turns her
self fully round, and with eager look beholds
her Master, and exclaims in Hebrew, 'Rab-
bonil' (master or teacher). She no doubt
Frustrated herself before him, as was the
customary form of greeting, and attempted
to embrace his feet (See Matt. xviii. 10Y.
JESUS, as we interpret the meaning of his re-
ported language, said to her, do not tarry
now to embrace me, there will be other op-
portunities for greetings before my ascen-
sion, but go at once and tell the brethren
that 1 am risen, and about to ascend unto
the Father" In the doubted paragraph at the
close of Marks Gospel xvi. 20) we have the
record that when JESUS appeared to all the
apostles and had convinced Thomas, the last
doubling one, he upbraided them for their
unbelief, and said unto them, $50 We into
all the world and preach this good news to
every creature" The resurrection of JESUS
was good news to be proclaimed everywhere.
Mary, to whom he ''frst appeared" must go
at once and proclaim to the disciples, "The
Lord is risen indeed!"
MAY not the two angels in white, which
Mary is reported to have seen in the tomb,
have been the clean linen clothes and napkin
which Peter and John had before seen there,
and which "took form from her excited i'm
agination" being imperfectly seen through
her tear-suffused eyes? She afterwards mis-
took JESUS for the gardener, though more
perfectly seen. May not also 1.-THE young
man clothed in a white garment, that IS re-
ported by Mark to have been seen by the
omen have been JESUS, before he laid
aside the grave clothes and left the tomb?
What he said, and the message he gave them,
favors the idea. In the evening when JESUS
appeared to the disciples, they were fright
ened, and supposed they were beholding
spirit Luke xiv. 30. The theory OF the
angels and other appearances on the resur-
rection morning is elaborated in recently
published suggestive little book, entitled,
The Story of the Resurrection, by the ven
cradle and devout DIR. Furness of Philadel-
phia.
The disciples did not expect to see JESUS
alive again. They were grieved and humili
ated. They had lost their friend and teach
or, and with him all their splendid hopes of
position and influence in his kingdom. When
Mary and the other women to whom he had
appeared told them, as they mourned and
wept," that they had seen the Master, that he
was alive, and reported what he had said to
them, they refused to believe them, and re-
garded their reports as ''idle talk" (Luke
xiv. III. They were no doubt in great per-
plexity. From the accounts of Luke and
John, it appears that secret meeting of the
disciples, 'for fear of the Jews" was ar
ranged and held in the evening, probably
for the purpose of considering their situation
and determining what, under their hopeless
circumstances, should be done. In the mean
time JESUS appeared to Peter duke xiv. "a;
l Cor. XIV. 81. Upon what occasion and IN
der.what circumstances he appeared to Pc
ter is nowhere recorded. Two who attended
this meeting, Cleopas, and it may be Luke,
who particularly relates the circumstance
duke xiv. 49,, reported that JESUS had APP
peared to them as they journeyed to neigh
boring village. Suddenly JESUS appeared in
this meeting and pronounced the usual salu-
tation, 'Peace to you'll" He convinced them
of his identity by showing his pierced side
and hands. The disciples believed and re-
joiced. "The Lord was risen indeedp' After
Thomas (who was not present at the meet
ing) was a week later in the same man
ner convinced John xxi. 81, there was no
longer any doubt among the disciples of
the resurrection of JESUS from the dead
I TVtl L. Il
sure, and which made them the bold apostles
and martyrs to truth and righteousness they
afterwards became. If they were sure of
anything it was this, and if we are sure of
anything which they taught, it is that JESUS
rose again from the dead, and that they were
witnesses to his temperance. There are
ten or eleven post mortem appearances of
JESUS, before the ascension, recorded in the
New Testament.
Fl. To Mary Magdalene alone MARK xvi.
| 81 John Xxx. Il-18). 2. To the woman who
went early to the tomb Matt. xviii 8, 10).
| g. To Simon Peter (Lnke XIV Ia; | Cor XIV.
| 81. T. To the two disciples going TO En-
maus Mark xvi. II; Luke xiv 34). s. To
| the meeting of disciples, Thomas being alb
| sent luke xiv. Sc; john Xxx 49,. These five
appearances occurred on the day he arose.
6. To the disciples, including Thomas Mark
xvi. IA; John Xxx. 26; | Cor. XIV. y. 7. To
seven of the apostles at the Sea of Liberals
| John xxi. u. 8. To the apostles ON a noun
tain in Galiee Matt xviii. 49,. 8. To above
| five hundred brethren Il Cor. XIV. 81. This
| may have been the same as 3. 10. To James
only q Cor. XIV. y. IL. To the apostles at
his ascension luke xiv. 81; Acts i. o.
| Ii the actual temperance of JESUS alive
in the flesh to Mary ia not pr, we'd, then
| nothing in the Gospels is proved, nothing in
all the world. ALI is an illusion. That
he reappeared alive after death, and was
seen and spoken with, the evidence has put
| it out of my power to doubt. hold
| It'll to be established by evidence hardly less
extraordinary than the great event itself.
+. evidence not of men, but of COP him
self speaking through the natural emotions
| of the persons present on the spot. .
| Stronger evidence l can neither desire nor
| imagine.
His resurrection was justified by the power
with which it wrought. To change those
poor men, who first put faith in him, into
saints and martyrs, through whom the world
was to be revolntionized, it was worth while
for the greatest of the SONS of men to awake
| from the deep slumber of death aud show
himself to them and inspire them with
faith in things unseen such as was never
| felt before. Had he not done so his memory
would have faded away from the world
into an unsubstaniial dream of the past
| His disciples would have gone mourning
| back to their boats and nets on the Sea OF
| Galilee. But as it was assured beyond the
shadow of misgiving that he who had been
| all in all to them, for whom they had forsa-
ken all else, was still living, with courage
that princes and all the powers of Church
| and State could not daunt, those humble
men went forth and published their faith in
the Risen CHRIST sealing that faith with