The Washington herald., 1913-03-23

and told the high priests. who gave them
a great sum of money. saying, Say you,
his disciples came by night and stole Him
away while we were asleep" To save
| the soldiers from punishment. the high
priests promised to explain the matter to
Plate.
| The so-called Gospel of Nicodemus."
which is one of the apocryphal books
of the New Testament. in giving a further
account of this incident, says: There
\ fore. one of the soldiers who guarded the
tomb came and said in the synagogue.
| Know that Jesus Is risen" The Jews
said, How And he replied. First. there
\ vas an earthquake: then an angel of the
Lord. bearing lightning, came down from
Heaven, and rolled away the stone from
the sepulcher. and sat upon it, And.
| through fear, all of US soldiers became
as dead men. and could neither fee nor
speak.
And, behold Matthew IL: 51-53). the
\ veil Of the temple was rent in twain from
the top to the bottom, and the earth did
quake, and the rocks were rent. And
| the graves were opened. and many bodies
| of the saints which slept arose. and
| came out of the graves after His resur-
| rection, and went into the holy city and
appeared unto many"
Apparently. then, the storm and earth
quake did not Immediately follow the
crucifixion of Jesus, but occurred stimuli
taneously with the resurrection-the stone
which sealed the sepulcher being rolled
aside as II by a lightning bolt. And it
| is further stated: When the centurian
| and they that We're with him, watching.
saw the earthquake. they feared greatly.
1 saying. Truly, this was the Son of God
On the following morning. which was
Sunday. Mary Magdalen according to
| john was first of the holy women to ar
rive, alone. Finding the stone rolled
| away and the body gone, she ran in tears
to Peter and John; and they, as already
stated, hastened eagerly to the sepulcher.
lincredulous of her story. Matthew and
Luke said that the women were told by
an angel duke says there were two an
gelsD that Jesus was alive, having risen
There are a number of such minor differ
ences in the story. as told by the writers
of the four gospels. such as inevitably
occur where several witnesses are doing
their best to give a truthful account OF
any happening.
Dr. Aiken calls attention to the fact that
Jesus. after His return in the flesh, ap-
peared to the eyes of living men on at
least nine different occasions.
hwat Scriptures Say.
He appeared to the women near the
tomb, and spoke to them. They took hold
OF his feet and adored him. (Matthew
Is: 9-1e)
He appeared and spoke to Mary Mag
dalen. but would not let her touch Him
| John 20: u-lSD
He appeared to two OF his disciples,
! talked with them. and walked with them
as far as Emmaus. a village eight miles
from Jerusalem. While ating with them
He vanished. duke "a: 1S-14)
He appeared to the assembled Apostles
on the same evening in, the upper ROOM
(where the Last Suppef had been eaten:
and. to assure them that He was not q
disembodied spirit. showed them His
| hands and feet. bade them touch His
wounded side, and ate in their presence.
All four of these appearances. be it OBJ
served. were on the very day Of the res
! direction. Again. a week later, He ap-
peared to the assembled Apostles, and
convinced Thomas that He was truly
risen by showing His wounded hands and
feet and side. John 20: a-e9)
He appeared to His disciples at the Sea
| Of Galilee. and ate and talked with them.
John 21: 1-s3)
He appeared to the Apostles on a hill
in Galilee- Matthew 2s: 1s-2o)
He appeared to His disciples on Mount
Olivet, whence He ascended to Heaven.
Luke "a: 50-51) This was the final scene.
He led them out as far as Bethany"
and while He blessed them. .'he was
parted from them and carried up into
Heaven" As the story Is tod in Acts
Q-g, ''he was taken up. and a cloud re-
| ceived Him out of their sight"
There was also His appearance to ST.
Paul. whose First Epistle to the Corinth-
ians, antedating all the Gospels. confirms
in striking way the stories of Luke and
John. For Che say9 1 delivered unto
you first of all that which also received
how that Christ died for our sins. and
that He was buried. and that He rose
again the third day; that He was seen by
Cephas. and after that by the eleven.
Then He was seen by more than 500 at
once. of whom the greater part remain
until this present. and some are fallen
asleep. After that He was seen by James.
then by all the Apostles, and last OF all
He was seen also by me-
Talked with Apostles.
Jesus did not show Himself merely on
one sole occasion, nor did He simply ap-
pear at distance like a specter. and
then vanish forever. The Apostles not
only saw Him and heard Him, but they
touched Him. ate with Him, conversed
with Him. 1t was not merely in the upper
chamber that they had these experiences
1t was in the little home at Emmaus, under
the open sky Of Galilee. on Mount Olivet.
Now II was to Peter, now to James. now
10 the TWO disciples at EmmauS, now TO
the assembled Apostles. lacking Thomas:
now to all without exception. now to the
seven at the Sea OF Galilee, now to more
than 500 people at one time From the
viewpoint Of the Bible student. 1t Is hard
to see how more convincing evidence
could be offered to prove an event cog
nfzable to the senses.
1t is worth while. incidentally, to call
attention to the fact that no description
of the resurrection Is given in the Bible.
The actual event was not witnessed by
the eyes Of any disciple. Tho tomb was
found empty, and Jesus afterward sp-
peared again and again In the nesh.
Concerning the manner Of the Ascen-
sion, II can hardly be said that anything
definite In the way of description IL given
by those who witnessed that transcendent
miracle. There Is nothing In the Gospels
to sanction the idea that Jesus rose be-
fore the eyes Of the Apostles slowly and
visibly through the air: and II Is un-
deniable that the efforts of the most
skillfui painters to represent the sublime
scene have been woefully ineffective and
unsatisfactory.
RENE BACH