her." What a pattern in Christ's tender care for His mother, when He was enduring the terrible agonies of the cross, we have for all children towards their parents! Unlike the Master whom he had followed, who had not where to lay His head, John had a "home," which from that hour he gladly shared with her whom he had been so solemnly charged to treat as a mother. How tenderly he watched over her, as she descended into the vale of years! And when her pilgrimage was ended, how piously he committed her ashes to the sepulchre, to await the second coming of Him who once hung upon her breasts, and called her mother! 1

It was noon, or the sixth hour, when suddenly the sun was darkened, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.2 An awful silence seems to have pervaded Calvary during those three mortal hours. The mocking words and jeering voices of the crowd were stilled; even the soldiers were dumb with terror. During these three darkened hours not a word was spoken, as far as we can gather from the sacred narrative, by Christ Himself or not until they were about to close. At the ninth hour, as the darkness began to clear away, a bitter cry of agony was heard from the cross, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" It was the hiding of the Father's face which constituted the bitterest ingredient in the cup He drank. As the darkness passed away, there was revealed to the throng the pale dying countenance of the Son of God. One dipped a sponge in the acid drink used by the soldiers, and, putting it on the end of a hyssop branch, raised it to His lips. Again He cried with a loud voice, "It is finished: "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit;" and He bowed His head, and gave up the Ghost. It is finished is but one word in the original.3 But what a world of joyful meaning is contained in that one word! At the moment of His death there were other fearful portents. The earth quaked and the rocks rent, the veil of the holy of holies in the temple was rent asunder, and the graves of many that slept were

To use, says Trench, the language of the learned Gill: "Some say she lived with John at Jerusalem, and there died; and others say that she died in the twelfth year after the resurrection of Christ, being fifty-nine years of age, and was buried by John in the garden of Gethsemane." But it has pleased God, adds Trench, to envelop all this in doubt and mystery, and with this we are to be satisfied. Nay more, being taught by the errors of the Church of Rome in regard to Mary, we may mark the wisdom of God in wrapping up the matter thus. Life of St. John, p. 112. A correspondent of the New York Observer in a recent number (Oct. 8th, 1874) gives an interesting account of the superstitious beliefs and practices maintained at the present day at Rome, respecting the assumption of Mary, which has now become an article of faith, the present infallible pope obliging people to believe what was condemned by one of his predecessors.

Matt. xxvii. 45-56; Mark xv. 33-41; Luke xxiii. 44-49.

3 TETÉNEσTai! John xix. 30.

1

opened. We are amazed at the supine inattention of the unbelieving to these evidences, which were represented by the hand of Providence to their very senses: turning aside from the awful spectacle, and busying themselves in the ordinary occupations of life, unconscious of what was passing around them. Better to interpret this indifference, with a wellknown historian, as another mournful proof of the "ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," than attempt to reason away the miracles of the crucifixion, saying that the trembling and the darkening of the sun were the natural phenomena of a volcanic region, and the resurrection of the dead was nothing more than visionary appearances confined to the depressed and awe-struck minds of the disciples. These were real and wonderful miracles, not to be attributed to the operation of mere natural causes, but to the mighty power of God, as if nature were in part in sympathy with Him who died. There was at least one there who did not share in the indifference with which the great multitude regarded these miracles, but whose mind was deeply impressed by them, and who afterwards, if he did not then, came to understand the deep significance which was involved in them.

2

When the soldiers came to hasten the death of those who were hanging on the crosses, that their bodies might not remain there on the Sabbath day, they found our blessed Lord already dead. Not a bone of Him was broken. The record of the apostle John here, besides being full of interest, is notably that of an eye-witness: "Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he

1 Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. xv. end.

2 History of Christianity, by Milman (London, 1840), i., p. 363. His language is: "This supernatural gloom appears to resemble that terrific darkness which precedes an earthquake. . . . The same convulsion (the earthquake) would displace the stones which covered the ancient tombs, and lay open many of the innumerable rockhewn sepulchres which perforated the hills on every side of the city, and exposed the dead to public view. To the awe-struck and depressed minds of the followers of Jesus, no doubt, were confined those visionary appearances of the spirits of their deceased brethren, which are obscurely intimated in the rapid narratives of the evangelists." To which he adds in a footnote: "Those who assert a supernatural eclipse of the sun rest on a most dubious and suspicious tradition," etc. We vastly prefer the manner in which the author of the Decline and Fall speaks of these and other miracles of the Bible. Milman's views of the miracles of the Bible are quite fully stated in the preface to his History of the Jews. He says that "in the passage of the Red Sea, the east wind which the Lord caused to blow,' and which threw back the waters, was in itself probably no rare phenomenon," etc.

2

1

knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe." This flowing of the blood and water together from the wound of the spear made a deep impression on John; nothing in the scene of the crucifixion seems to have made a deeper impression. It was in particular reference to this that he makes his testimony so strong and emphatic. He makes it thus emphatic, because the testimony is so important: important not only as part of the conclusive evidence that the death of Christ was a real death, but because the beloved disciple saw something eminently significant, as we learn not only from the manner in which the record is made, but also from his First Epistle, in the twofold stream of water aud blood which flowed from the wounded side of Christ. We learn from that epistle that the water and the blood belong to a ternary of witnesses to the efficacy of faith in Jesus Christ. In them is the evidence that He is an all-sufficient Saviour. The water and the blood flowing together from the same fountain are symbolical of the sinlessness and the sufferings of the Redeemer, which cannot be separated in His work of atonement. And they are at the same time significant of the two great benefits, sanctification and justification, which also cannot be separated in believers who partake of the benefits of His atoning work. This passage in his epistle, written late in life, shows how deep was the impression on the mind of John made by the events of which he was a witness on the day of crucifixion, and how he was qualified thereby to become an inspired teacher of the Church. We cannot well understand how he was fitted for his great and important work, except as we give prominence to the educating influence of the ministry of Christ, especially of its concluding period.

And now the evening of this eventful day, the brightest, darkest, most memorable day, on which morning ever dawned or evening closed, had come. And there came a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable counsellor, who went in boldly unto Pilate (by this act openly confessing his faith in Him now that He was dead), and craved the body of Jesus. With him another rich man and counsellor, Nicodemus, who had before confessed Christ, united in paying rites of burial to His body. Never was money more worthily expended than for the linen and spices with which these men wrapped the body of Jesus. They laid it in a new sepulchre wherein never had man before been laid. John, no doubt, as well as the women of Galilee, saw what was done. There we leave this body, till the promised morning comes.

1 John xix. 32-35.

21 John v. 6-8.

CHAPTER VI.

ST. JOHN A WITNESS OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

CHIEF

FUNCTIONS OF AN APOSTLE. EVIDENCE OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST AS ADDRESSED TO ST. JOHN.-HIS TESTIMONY ON THIS SUBJECT.— MARY MAGDALENE'S MESSAGE TO ST. PETER AND ST. JOHN.-FIRST APPEARANCE OF CHRIST.-ST. JOHN SEES THE EMPTY SEPULCHRE, AND BELIEVES.-CHRIST APPEARS TO MARY MAGDALENE.-TO ST. PETER.TO THE TWO DISCIPLES GOING TO EMMAUS. TO TEN APOSTLES IN THE EVENING. TO THE ELEVEN, EIGHT DAYS AFTER. TO ST. JOHN AND SIX OTHERS AT THE SEA OF GALILEE. TO FIVE HUNDRED DISCIPLES ON A MOUNTAIN IN GALILEE. THE ASCENSION.-COMPETENCY OF APOSTLES AS WITNESSES.-ST. JOHN NEITHER AN ENTHUSIAST NOR AN IMPOSTOR.

As it was one of the chief functions of the office for which St. John was preparing, and in the exercise of which he was to spend his long life, to bear witness to the resurrection of Christ, it becomes important to notice the nature and sufficiency of the evidence on which he and his associates in this office founded their testimony.

It was in the open, empty sepulchre of Jesus that St. John says he "saw and believed." Some have argued that he meant no more than that he believed what Mary had said about the removal of the body.2 But this entirely disagrees with the force of this expression as used by him, and with the immediate context: "For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead;" i.e., up to this time he and his companions had not understood the Scripture, but now he understood it, and believed. The open sepulchre had opened his eyes. The fact of Christ's resurrection holds so essential a place in the religion St. John went forth to propagate, and in which he performed so conspicuous a part, that whatever other facts are proved, unless this be established, Christianity, as a divinely revealed system, lacks proof; and he spent his life under the power of a gross delusion. There might be evidence, for example, that all that is said respecting the birth of Christ happened just as it is recorded, and that we have a true account of His teaching, His purity, His death; but without the proof of His resurrection it would only be established that a good man had lived and taught, and was martyred. Now what was the evidence presented to the mind of St. John and his fellow

1 John xx. 8.

2 See Newcome, Ebrard, Stier.

apostles, which convinced them, and rendered them unimpeachable witnesses of this fact?

The evidence John had that Christ's death was a real death, was, in the first place, of the clearest and most satisfactory nature. The soldiers that crucified Him made themselves sure that He was really dead. When they came to break His legs, for the purpose of bastening His death, they found that He was dead already; but that there might be no danger of mistaking a swoon for real death, one of them pierced His side, the spear penetrating to the heart, and forthwith came there out blood and water. The apostle John testifies with great emphasis that he saw this done, saw the blood and water gushing, as the soldier withdrew the spear. The body was taken down from the cross, and Joseph of Arimathea having obtained permission of the governor to take charge of it,3 in company with Nicodemus, wrapped it in linen with costly spices, and laid it in a new sepulchre in a garden near the place of crucifixion. This was before sunset on Friday. On the following day, the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate, and said, “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while He was yet alive, After three days I will rise again." They requested that a guard might be placed to prevent His disciples from coming by night to steal Him away. Their request was granted; and they were told to make it as sure as they could. They went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch.5

The Jewish Sabbath, corresponding to our Saturday, passes. Early on the morning of the first day of the week there was a great earthquake; an angel from heaven rolled back the stone from the door of

1 John xix. 33.

2 John xix. 34-37. The short time He was suspended on the cross (as those subjected to this form of punishment often survived two or three days, and cases are cited of crucified persons, on being taken down, who were restored to life: Jos., Life, 75; Herod., vii. 194) might to some suggest a case of swoon rather than death. But even Renan admits that we have a sufficient guarantee that Jesus was actually dead, in the suspicious hatred of His enemies. "They must have made certain that He was actually dead" (Life of Jesus, chap. xxvi.). The crurifragium was not added to crucifixion in His case, because the soldiers could find no signs of life in Him, but to assure themselves that He was dead they deemed it sufficient to thrust the lance into His side.

3 According to the law of the Jews, the body should have been taken away and buried in the spot set apart for criminals; Mishna, Sanhedrin, vi. 5. According to that of the Romans it might be given to whomsoever claimed it. Digest., xlviii. 24, De cadaveribus punitorum. If Jesus had not numbered among His disciples such men as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the Jewish rule would probably have been followed.

4 Matt. xxvii. 57-60; Mark xv. 42-46; Luke xxiii. 50-53; John xix. 38-42. 5 Matt. xxvii. 62-66.

Matt. xxviii. 1-4; Mark xvi. 1-4; Luke xxiv. 1-7; John xx. 1-18. In