The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-05-25
THE LESSON STORY.

The disciples of Jesus, after the cru
cifxion and burial, were as men stunned
and paralyzed. Bereaved love, disap-
pointed hope, dull despair, sense of I'm.
speakable wrong to the Eternal Right,
made active endeavor for them impossible.
"But," says Farrar, 'the enemies OF
Christ were not inactive. The awful mis-
giving of guilty consciences was not re-
moved even by his death upon the cross.
They recalled, with dreadful "reminiscences,
the rumored prophecies of his resurrection,
the sign of the prophet Jonah, which he
said would alone be given them Matt. IL:
3o), the great utterance about the destroyed
temple, which he would in three days raise
up; and these utterances, which were but
dim to crushed and wavering faith, were
read, like fiery letters upon the wall, by
the Illuminating glare of an uneasy guilt
Pretending, therefore, to be afraid lest his
body should be stolen l'y his disciples for
purposes of imposture, they begged that,
until the third day, the tomb might be Sc
curely guarded PLATE gave them brief
and naughty permission to do anything
they liked; for apparently in the evening
when the great Paschal Sabbath was over,
they sent their guard to seal the door and
watch the sepulchre"
/. The Women Come to the
Sepulchre,-vs. IA. t.
The Galilean women had seen Jesus on
the cross. Two of them, Mary the mother
of John and Mary Magdalene, had, from
chosen viewpoint Matt. a7:6L, seen
their Lords body deposited in Joseph's
new sepulchre. They had then essayed
TO make preparations for embalming the
body. But before they could secure the
ointment and spices requisite for their
work, the setting of the sun had ushered
in the Sabbath This instantly arrested
their labor of love. All friends of Jesus
were kept under close surveillance. Sus-
picion among the enemies of Jesus was
alert Nothing remained for these agon
lied women to do, through the long Sab
bath, but to wait. Not until the sun had
risen and come TO another setting at the
close of the great Sabbath of the Feast.
could these mourning women obey the i'm
pulse OF their love, which directed them,
E~as their last tribute of affection, to anoint
and embalm their Lords cruciied body.
The acts of the priests and Plate. in
sealing the sepulchre and setting the
watch, were unknown to the women.
Neither could they have been informed of
the hasty and lavish preliminary embalm-
ing of Jesus body which had been fulfilled
by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
They assumed, on the warrant of the pre-
vailing custom, that the body had been
placed in the tomb, and the opening had
been closed by the great circular stone be-
ing rolled against it, and that, when the
Sabbath had passed, the body would be
freely committed to their loving care.
"Night passed, says Geikie, in eloquent
description, ".and before the first streak of
dawn began to silver the darkness of that
first great Easter day, the passionate love
of those women who had fingered latest
by the cross, made them also earliest at
the tomb. Carrying with them their prec-
ious spices, but knowing nothing of the
watch or seal, they anxiously inquired
among themselves, as they CROPPED their
sad and timid way through the glimmering
NeAh ASSS, VIM ohOuiu iOii away iOi thSiA
the great stone which closed the sepul-
chre? The two Marys were foremost Of
this little band, and after them came Sa-
lone and joanna"
Their perplexity was natural in the early
twilight. Later they might expect rever'
ent hands would roll the stone away from
the door; but they could scarcely hope
that, before the nightdarkness had fully
4 passed away, the masculine friends of Je
sus would be stirring. The impotence of
their love had brought them to the sepul-