The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-02-22

go along they commune with each
other as to how they would be able
to reach the object of their desire.
The body was in the tomb of rock
and the great stone closed the door.
Who would roll away the stone? Evi-
IDENTIFY they knew nothing of the seal
or the guard. On reaching the sepul
chre they find the stone rolled away.
Matthew is the only one of the evan
gelists who tells us how the stone
was rolled away. He says there was
an earthquake,-that is sometime
previous to the coming Of the women,
and an angel of the Lord descended
and rolled away the stone and sat on
it, and the guard we've paralyzed with
fear, and we might add that Jesus
rose from the dead, for the probabil-
ity is that Jesus rose from the dead
when his tomb was thus opened.
But all this happened before the wo-
men reached the tomb-and they
saw none of it. What they saw was
the stone rolled away and the sepul-
chre open. AS was natural, for they
came to embalm the body, they went
into the sepulchre, and to their
amazement they saw not the body of
their Lord-the tomb was empty
but they had vision of angels. An
angel in the form of young man
clothed in white robes, Luke and
John say two appeared to them
and said, "Why seek ye the dead
among the living? He is not here,
he is risen as he said. Come see the
place where the Lord lay and go
quickly and tell his disciples"
This angelic vision and voice were
to them like burst of sunlight in a
dungeon. Their feelings can better
be imagined than described. A tu-
multi of emotions filled their hearts.
Wonder, fear, astonishment, joy, hope,
CONSERVATION, all charged into their
souls at the same moment. In this
state of great excitement they hasten
to the disciples and tell Peter espe-
cially what they have seen and heard.
John hears the story and Peter and
John start for the sepulchre. John
being the younger outruns Peter and
comes first to the tomb, and STOPPING
down looks in, but Peter coming af-
ter goes in and sees as the women
have said and John following, "sees
and believes"
As yet no one has seen Jesus. All
this happened before he showed him
self to any one. What does it all
mean? What is its obvious import? :?
Clearly, if it means anything it
means that Jesus rose from the dead
in bodily form; that he assumed his
crucifed body and left the tomb
clothed in this body. This is its OBJ
vious import. 1t is the impression it
makes upon you as you read it over.
You can get no other significance out
of it. The tomb is securely sealed
and guarded, the body could not
have been stolen. But it was not in
the tomb. The tomb was empty.
There was the napkin and linen cloth
but not the body of Jesus. Where
was that9 The angels answer: "He
is not here; he is risen." What did
they mean? Merely that his spirit
had ascended into the larger and
higher life9 Obviously, not. They
meant that Jesus had taken on his
physical form again and come out
from among the dead, 80 that now
he is to be sought among the "living"
and not among 1.-The dead" They used
the popular language. They spoke
of the body of Jesus as though it
was Jesus himself. Hence when they
said, "He is not here, he is risen" F"
they meant that his body is not here;
it is risen, or he has risen in his body.
Nothing can be made out of all this
but the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
This is what the angels said; the
women reported and John believed.
So much is obvious from the record
before the appearances. In other ar
ticles we will see what the appear
ances have to teach us.
SYCAMORE, ILL.