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65, 66.

so holy that they feared they would contract de- John xix. 31. filement if the bodies of the crucified were allowed to hang upon the cross on the Sabbath, and therefore begged Pilate to hasten their death and burial by ordering their legs to be broken-these anointed guardians of the Sabbath themselves become, in the intensest sense, Sabbath-breakers, desecrating the holy hours by plotting against the dead body of Him Who Himself is the true and everlasting Sabbath. The careless, flexible Pilate again complies with their request: "Take ye a guard; Matthew xxvii. go and make the tomb as sure as ye can." No sooner did they receive the order than they hastened out to the sepulchre, stretched a cord across the great stone which had been rolled up against it, stamped the ends with the imperial seal of great Cæsar, and stationed a guard of Roman soldiers, Ah! was there ever such an awful Sabbath as that? It was sad enough, God knows, to see Jesus on the cross, dying amid the jeerings of His murderers; but sadder still to see Him lying waxen, motionless, dead, shrouded, entombed, while Roman sentries stand by with spear in hand to maintain inviolate the majesty of Cæsar's seal.

THE

RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.

I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

REVELATION i. 18.

II.

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.

Watch.

THE solemn, awful hours creep on. Morning The Imperial dies into evening, and the Roman guard, spear in hand, are still pacing before the sepulchre, watch ing the imperial seal. The solemn, awful hours creep on. Evening dies into midnight, and the Roman guard, spear in hand, are still pacing, watching the imperial seal. The solemn, awful hours creep on. Midnight begins to retreat before the advancing day, and the Roman guard, spear in hand, are still pacing, watching the imperial seal. O God of Heaven! was there ever such a watch as that?

tion. Matt. xxviii. 1-4.

And now as it begins to dawn toward the first The Resurrecday of the week, while it is yet dark, lo! there is a great earthquake. And, lo! an Angel of the Lord, with appearance like lightning and raiment white as snow, descends from heaven, and, rolling away the stone, sits upon it. And, lo! the Roman guard, aghast at Cæsar's broken seal, shake with terror, their nerveless hands unable to grasp their spears, their bodies prone on the ground as the bodies of the dead. Why these

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