English
And it is said, suppose his throat had been cut from ear to ear, or that he had been ac- tually decapitated, and all his veins and arteries emptied of life's currents, could he resurrect himself? Did he resurrect himself, and, if not, who did? Or suppose the bones of his legs had been broken on the cross, as were the legs of the thieves, could he have walked until they had been set and bandaged and grown together again? How about that? A healthy young man with abundant vitality, as I have heretofore sliown, could survive the agonies of the cross two or three days, and sometimes even four days. Jesus was on the cross only about three hours, and was dead, as the soldiers thought, even before that questionable thrust of the spear. (3) In fact, John is the only person wlio makes that assertion. Joseph of Arimathea may have believed Jesus was dead when he took his body from the cross, but he himself says nothing about it. It is said he brought some linen cloth with which to wrap it, as was then the custom of the Jews. (4) That day there was enacted the most shameful spec- tacle ever witnessed on this earth, which brands for- (3) John 19: v. 31 to 34. John is the only one of the four Gospel writers who says the side of Jesus was pierced by a spear. (4) Mark 15: v. 23 and v. 53. John 19: v. 40. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 283 ever with infamy those Roman soldiers, and the Jews who were the actors in the tragedy. Right at the foot of the cross the soldiers are divid- ing Jesus' garments, and casting lots as to which shall win his seamless robe. (5) Here comes a procession of Jews, and they wag their heads and jeer as they pass by: "Ah, thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down now from the cross!" But worse than all this, the learned of all Jerusalem, the chief priests and scribes, doctors of the law, are there ; and they mock him : "He saved others, himself he cannot save" ; "Let the King of Israel come down now from the cross, that we may see and be- lieve." (6) Would it not have been better for the world if Jesus had actually come dovv'n from the cross, for even those Pharisees might then have believed on him? If, as Luke alleges, (7) when they were mock- ing him in his agony he was able to say, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do," then he stands upon a pedestal above every human being who preceded him. (8) Moreover, Jesus was not a cruel man; and if those Jews who nailed him on that cross (5) John 19: v. 23 and 24; Matt. 27: v. 35. (6) Mark 15: v. 29 to 31; Matt. 27: v. 39 to 43. (7) Ch. 23, V. 34. (8) Some of his followers are equally devoted, as witness Bishop Cramer, who was burned at the stake. When the flamea were consuming him, he was able to say to another sufferer: "Let us stand firm, brother, and we will kindle such a light in England today that the world will see it." 284 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES cry to him out of the pit, will he not have mercy? If lie has the power, he surely will forgive them. A man's mother is the first one to come to him in distress, and the last to leave him. It was so at Cal- vary. Jesus' mother was there ; she had followed him from Galilee, and was at the sepulcher when the stone was rolled to its door. (9) Her mother's heart was, without doubt, wrung with anguish while watching her son's agony on the cross. If the spear was actually thrust into his side, she may have seen the blood as it gushed from the wound. Moreover, she with all those women who followed him from Galilee, believed him to be dead, if the record be true; for it is said they brought spices, intending to come back after the Sabbath and anoint him. (10) Section 2. He was taken down from the cross probably sometime after four o'clock, probably a little later, on Friday afternoon. Joseph had visited Pilate, to beg the body; and when he obtained leave he bought linen (11) to wrap it in, and it may have been five o'clock in the afternoon, or even six o'clock. But exactly when that stone was rolled to that door, no human being can now truly tell. (12) But if it was six o'clock when Joseph finished wrap- ping the body, and no signs of returning consciousness had appeared, that circumstance adds weight to the claim of those who insist that he was really dead. (9) Matt. 27, 60. (10) Mark 16: v. 1; Luke 24: v. 1, (11) Mark 15, v. 46. (12) Matt. 27, V. 60, A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 285 And every moment beyond that point of time gives strength to that supposition. It is all simply a guess as to the exact time when Joseph rolled that stone to the door of that sepulcher. But it was Friday even- ing, Nisan 4th (April, A. D. 33). Great things had transpired in Jerusalem in the preceding twenty-four hours. Jesus had eaten the Paschal supper (13) ; Judas had betrayed him; Peter had denied him (14); the Scribes and elders had arrested him ; Pilate, though repeatedly saying, "I find no fault in him," had cruelly scourged him. And when that Jewish mob was clamoring, "Crucify him, crucify him!" the weak-kneed Pilate tamely yielded; and the best man ever born in Palestine was shamelessly nailed to the cross between two thieves. Such a monument of infamy towers to the very heavens. Even if we say that Jesus was only a man, his Sermon on the Mount can never be surpassed. It is a perpetual benediction upon all mankind, and so it will remain forever. Now if the record be true, all this suffering and ignominy on the cross might have been avoided if Jesus had so willed it. (15) For it seems as if he really did have it in his power to escape. He knew Judas to be a traitor. He knew the whole Sanhedrin was arrayed against him. He could have escaped in several ways. He could have gone back to Galilee. He might have found shelter in the wilderness. If he (13) Luke 22. (14) Luke 23: V. 1 to 5. (15) John 10, V. 17 and 18. 286 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES coukl Iced live tliuusaml witli '"fuc loaves and Uvo small fishes," could he not feed himself when and where he pleased? (i6) Or did he have the brave example of those seven glorious Maccabees before him? (17) Or did, in fact, an angel from heaven come to give him strength and courage? (18) If so, it may have been one of the same angels that ministered unto him in the wilderness. (19) Or it may have been the angel Nanda, who fed Buddha when he was fam- ishing. But after all these questionable statements have been sifted, the great fact of the nailing to that cross stands out boldly, and unchallenged. The mournful sublimity of that innocent sufferer, on that cross, stands unimpeached and unimpeachable. It is a monu- mental fact; and there it will remain sure and stead- fast until the elements shall melt with fervent heat. (20) Section 3. But the resurrection of the material body of Jesus, stands upon a very different footing. Water, we know from universal observation, will run down hill. People will die — in fact they are dying (16) Matt. 14, V. 15 to 21 and ch. 15, v. 32 to 38. (17) Second Maccabees, ch. 7. (18) This remarkable statement of Luke (ch. 22, v. 43) de- serves observation. It is not improper to ask who told Luke about that story of the angel. The least that can be said of it is that there in the Mount of Olives Jesus wavered — else why does the angel appear, if the angel did appear? (19) Matt. 4, xi. Nanda fed Buddha at the end of his long fast. (20) 2nd Peter 3: v. 10. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 287 all about us — and the proof is overwlielming that all will die. Both of those cases are self-evident. They are of common observation, and happen every day in obedi- ence to a law^. But if we find that about nineteen hun- dred years ago, four men — Matthevir, Mark, Luke and John — each wrote a book saying that in their day water ran up hill of itself, we at once discredit such a story. We pronounce against it, and a multitude of witnesses will not convince us, for the reason that it contradicts a law of universal observation. And those same men — Luke, Mark, Matthew and John (21) — each wrote a book, and every one of them asserts therein that Jesus was crucified (that is not hard to believe), and was pronounced dead, was taken down from the cross, was wrapped with cloth, and placed carefully in a tomb. (22) But there is no statement by Mark, or Luke, or Matthew, or John, that anyone, as a guard, remained at that sepulcher that Friday night.