found perplexity and contending doubts on
this first day of the week. But while the apostles hesitated to believe
that Christ had actually risen, the women, less skeptical, more
trustful, knew, for they had both seen Him and heard His voice, and some
of them had touched His feet.

A PRIESTLY CONSPIRACY OF FALSEHOOD.[1365]

When the Roman guardsmen had sufficiently recovered from fright to make
their precipitate departure from the sepulchre, they went to the chief
priests, under whose orders they had been placed by Pilate,[1366] and
reported the supernatural occurrences they had witnessed. The chief
priests were Sadducees, of which sect or party a distinguishing feature
was the denial of the possibility of resurrection from the dead. A
session of the Sanhedrin was called, and the disturbing report of the
guard was considered. In the spirit in which these deceiving hierarchs
had tried to kill Lazarus for the purpose of quelling popular interest
in the miracle of his restoration to life, they now conspired to
discredit the truth of Christ's resurrection by bribing the soldiers to
lie. These were told to say "His disciples came by night, and stole him
away while we slept"; and for the falsehood they were offered large sums
of money. The soldiers accepted the tempting bribe, and did as they were
instructed; for this course appeared to them the best way out of a
critical situation. If they were found guilty of sleeping at their
posts, immediate death would be their doom;[1367] but the Jews
encouraged them by the promise: "If this come to the governor's ears, we
will persuade him and secure you." It must be remembered that the
soldiers had been put at the disposal of the chief priests, and
presumably therefore were not required to report the details of their
doings to the Roman authorities.

The recorder adds that until the day of his writing, the falsehood of
Christ's body having been stolen from the tomb by the disciples was
current among the Jews. The utter untenability of the false report is
apparent. If all the soldiers were asleep--a most unlikely occurrence
inasmuch as such neglect was a capital offense--how could they possibly
know that any one had approached the tomb? And, more particularly, how
could they substantiate their statement even if it were true, that the
body was stolen and that the disciples were the grave-robbers?[1368] The
mendacious fiction was framed by the chief priests and elders of the
people.