fair words. They have done their work well, and have been quite faithful. The Ancients will take care to persuade Pilate. No harm shall come to the guards if they will only firmly stick to this assertion, that the disciples came while they were asleep and carried off the Body. If they don't adhere to this account, they will certainly be accused to Pilate of having allowed the disciples to break the seals of the Tomb and carry off the Body.

D. They gave a great sum of money to the soldiers.

Pity the misery of these weak men, corrupted by a bribe. No doubt a grace has been offered to them when the Resurrection took place and the Angel appeared. Had they been true to grace they would now have part and fellowship with the martyrs. They preferred to have for their portion the sum of money shared among them.

E. They gave a great sum of money to the soldiers.

Take notice too of the grievous wickedness of these Priests and Rulers. If even now they would retrace their steps! But they harden their hearts, and, as our Lord said to them, shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men. For you yourselves do not enter in, and those that are going in you suffer not to enter (St. Matt. xxiii.).

F. They taking the money, did as they were taught.

We are reminded of the fatal power that bribes possess to poison the soul. When Samuel had anointed Saul king, and was resigning his office of judge, he said to all Israel: Speak of me before the Lord and before His Anointed, whether I have taken any man's ox or ass; if I have wronged any man; if I have oppressed any man; if I have taken a bribe at any man's hand; and I will despise it in this day, and I will restore it to you. And they said: Thou hast not wronged us, nor oppressed us, nor taken aught at any man's hand (1 Kings xii.). Before the time of the end of his life in the world, he protested before the Lord and His Anointed: Money or anything else, even to a shoe, he had not taken of any man, and no man did accuse him (Ecclus. xlvi.).

So, in like manner, when the King of Sodom wanted to

load Abraham with presents for having rescued him from his enemies, Abraham answered: I lift up my hand to the Lord God the Most High, the possessor of Heaven and earth, that from the very woof thread unto the shoe latchet, I will not take of any things that are thine, lest thou say, I have enriched Abram (Genesis xiv.).

Baltassar offered Daniel large presents if he would interpret his dream for him: Thou shalt be clothed with purple, and shalt have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third prince in my kingdom. But Daniel also loved that holy liberty and independence which belongs to the children and servants of God, and he answered: Thy rewards be to thyself, and the gifts of thy house give to another (Daniel v.). The great Saints of the New Testament strongly commend to Priests that word of our Saviour: Freely you have received, freely give (St. Matt. x.). One reason why they dread presents and bribes is, because the Holy Ghost warns us that presents and gifts blind the eyes of judges, and make them dumb in the mouth, so that they cannot correct (Ecclus. xx.). Who has courage enough to reprove earnestly the man who has enslaved him by giving him a rich gift? And, once courage is gone, we are glad to become blind, in order not to see sins which call for reproof.

Seek not to be made a judge, unless thou have strength enough to extirpate iniquities; lest thou fear the person of the powerful, and lay a stumbling-block for thy integrity (Ecclus. vii.).

Another reason why the Saints will not accept gifts, is that they wish to have their reward from the hand of their generous and loving Master, and dread hearing from His lips that withering word: They have received their reward (St. Matt. vi.). Have I lost my liberty by receiving gifts? Am I receiving my reward here?

G. And this word was spread abroad among the Jews even to this day.

It is said to have been a maxim of Voltaire's: "Throw mud enough, and some is sure to stick". Assuredly Satan

finds that he gains his ends by lying boldly and with perseverance. Cardinal Newman has left us a vivid picture of the tenacity with which prejudice against the Church keeps its hold on the minds of men.

Ought we to be silent, and think that it is no use to refute lies? The great Saints have not thought so. St. Augustine, we are told, never ceased refuting the Donatists till he cleared Africa of their heresy. This is St. Paul's inculcation to St. Timothy: I charge thee before God and before Jesus Christ, preach the Word; be instant in season and out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine. For there shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine (2 Timothy iv.). As the children of this world are sometimes more prudent than the children of light, so also are they sometimes more courageous, more energetic, more persevering. My brethren, these things ought not so to be (St. James iii.).

SCENE XXVIII.

ST. PETER'S CAVE. SOUTH OF JERUSALEM.

STATION I.

Peter went away wondering in himself at that which had come to pass (St. Luke xxiv. 12).

Peter went away.

We may perhaps assume that Peter and John secure the sacred winding-sheet, the sudarium, and the other linen cloths, and carry them to the Conaculum, to present them to the Blessed Mother when she returns.

These two Apostles may still be there when Magdalen and the other devout women arrive with their tidings. If so, it is not necessary, as we have seen, to believe that they are included in St. Luke's words: They did not believe them.

After this, St. John, perhaps, goes to find our Blessed Lady in the house, or place near the Tomb, to which she went yesterday.

A. Peter went away.

St. Peter then goes forth alone, wondering in himself at that which had come to pass: wondering too, in contrition

and humility, what is to

be permitted again to

happen to himself. Shall he ever see his beloved Master? The

women have told him so. Can it be true? If so blessed, what manner of meeting shall it be? What will the Lord say to him? What answer shall he make to his Divine

Master? Full of these thoughts he wanders on.

Possibly he bends his steps once more towards Calvary. Or, perchance, wishing to let his tears flow in solitude, he goes from the Conaculum down the hill to the south, to the Grotto still shown as the spot where he hid his sorrows after the cock-crow, when Jesus looked upon him.

STATION II.

The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon
(St. Luke xxiv. 34).

It was late in the evening when the disciples spoke these words, but commentators think that probably the apparition to Peter took place early in the day, before the apparition to Cleophas and his companion, or to any other man among the disciples.

We are not told one word of what passed at this meeting. The short history is this: The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

We must go back once more to the familiar words: Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man what God hath prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. ii.).

St. Peter always loved his Master, but contrition has doubled and trebled his love. And in this interview our Blessed Lord once more looks on Peter, and this look shall be stamped indelibly on his heart. If contrition has doubled and trebled his love, this meeting, and the aspect of his most loving Master, and the words that come from His tender Heart into the heart of His penitent Apostle, double and treble contrition. It shall endure till he has at last his will, and expires crucified, and with his head

downwards, because he does not deem it right that he should be so honoured as to die quite after the manner of his Master.

"Blessed Saint, you who sinned once and wept often, pray for us who have sinned often, and seldom grieve for our sins."

What happened to-day to St. John the Gospels do not tell. If, as holy writers relate, he found our Lady transfigured, something after the manner of what he had seen on Thabor, this vision may have strengthened and consoled him sufficiently, even without an apparition from his Divine Master. St. Jerome tells us that St. James the Less had made a vow not to taste food or drink till he had seen the Lord come to life, and that our Saviour contented his ardent desire by appearing to him today. St. Paul (1 Cor. xv.) seems to put this apparition later. After this He appeared to James. Some early Fathers also state that Jesus appeared to-day to Joseph of Arimathea in his dungeon.

SCENE XXIX.

THE ROAD TO EMMAUS.

STATION I.

And behold, two of them went the same day to a town which was sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they talked and reasoned with themselves, Jesus Himself also drawing near, went with them. But their eyes were held that they should not know Him (St. Luke xxiv. 13-16).

A. It came to pass that while they talked and reasoned with themselves.

They talked and reasoned about the things which had happened.

Many persons are persuaded that meditation is to them an impossibility, but they find no difficulty in talking and reasoning with another about things that have happened. Oftentimes, if such a conversation could