ven, and rolled away the
stone at the door of the tomb, and the Lord of Life came out. The
soldiers did not see Jesus, but they did see the shining angel. The
Roman soldiers shook with fright. They were so frightened that they
had no strength left in them, and as soon as they could they ran away
from the place.

And now that the soldiers had gone, some women came near--Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, Salome, and at least one
or two more women. They had brought with them some sweet-smelling
spices, which they had made or bought, to put round the body of Jesus.
The light was beginning to come in the sky, to show that the sun would
be up soon, but it was still rather dark. As the women came along,
they said one to the other, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from
the door of the tomb?' For it was very great. Then they looked, and
behold! the stone was gone. And Mary Magdalene ran back to the city,
to tell Peter and John that the door of the tomb was open. But the
other women went on, and went into the tomb where they had seen Jesus
laid. He was not there now, but an angel in a long white robe was
sitting on the right-hand side of the tomb. Then the women saw two
angels standing by them in shining clothes, and they were afraid, and
fell on their faces to the ground. Then one of the angels said to
them, 'Fear not. He is not here; He is risen.'

[Illustration: The empty tomb.]

But Mary Magdalene after all had been the first to see Jesus. She had
run off to tell Peter and John that the stone was rolled away. As soon
as Peter and John knew that, they ran off to the grave as fast as they
could, and Mary Magdalene went after them. John could run the fastest,
so he got there first, and just peeped in through the little door in
the rock. The angels had gone away, but he could see the linen
bandages. They were not thrown about here and there, but they were
lying neatly together. But when Peter came up he wanted to see more
than that, and he went straight into the tomb, and John followed him.
When Peter and John saw that the body of Jesus had really gone, they
went away back to the city and told the other disciples.

But Mary Magdalene did not go back. As she turned away from the grave
she saw that somebody was standing near the grave. It was really
Jesus, but she did not know that. She was too sad to look up.

And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?'

Ma