f the garden--that earth's fairest, brightest, gentlest
nurslings were there, mingling their smiles and balm with the trampling
angry footsteps and the cursings of malignant foes. They had been very
dear to Him in His life-course; it was only meet that they should be
near Him when He died. Was it not symbolical? In a garden man fell;
in a garden he was redeemed! And that death of Christ has sown our
world with the flowers of peace and joy and blessedness, so that many a
wilderness has begun to rejoice and to blossom as the rose.

Whilst the burial of Christ was proceeding, the chief priests and their
party were holding a meeting in all haste before the Sabbath began.
The success of their scheme was no doubt the theme of hearty
congratulation. But they dreaded Him still; they feared that all might
not be over; they could not forget that He had spoken of rising the
third day; and at the least, might not the disciples steal away the
body, and spread abroad the report that He had risen, and so the last
error would be worse than the first? A deputation was therefore
appointed to wait on Pilate representing their fears. Tired of them
and the whole case, he was in no humor to please them. "Ye have a
guard," said he, brusquely, "go, make it as sure as you can!" This
they did. They passed a strong cord across the stone, and sealed its
ends, and then placed soldiers to keep due watch and ward that none
should lay hands upon the body that lay within.

So Christ lay entombed; but He was not there. He was in the world of
spirits. The place of disembodied spirits was called, by the Jews,
Sheol. It had two divisions, Paradise and Gehenna. Christ, we know
from His own words, went to the former; and from Peter we gather that
He also went through the realms of Gehenna, proclaiming His victory.

The practical conclusion of the whole is, however, contained in Romans
vi. Just as the body of Christ after crucifixion was buried in the
grave, so our sinful, sensual, selfish selves must be done away in the
grave of forgetfulness and oblivion and disuse--buried with Christ,
"that like as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the
Father, so we also should walk in newness of life."

XXXIII

The Day of Resurrection

"The first day of the week."--JOHN xx. 1.

It may be helpful if we tabulate in a brief and concise form the
various appearances of our Lord on the great day, when He was declared
to be the