life-a cry in which the heart of the heathen centurion recognised the divine power of the dying sufferer. Thus did the Lord as the Lamb of God also maintain the character of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, in the divine strength with which He completed His contest with death.

NOTE.

The most of the last quoted delineations of Mark we find in a similar form also in Matthew. It is quite in accordance with the character of Mark, that the peculiar individuality of his Gospel should retire to the background in the history of the passion. Nevertheless, in single points, it occasionally shines through. The woman who anointed Jesus breaks the box over His head. Of the cup in the Supper he remarks, And they all drank of it.' The announcement of the denial of Peter is very definite: to-day, in this night, before the cock crow twice. Concerning the suffering of Christ in Gethsemane, he informs us, that it consisted in an hour of deep dejection which befell Him there. In the prayer of Christ itself, he has preserved the original Abba. On the other hand, he passes over the modification of the second prayer (ver. 39). To the notice of the sleep which overpowered the three disciples, which he has in common with Matthew, he adds, They knew not what they answered Him.' Quite characteristic is the word, 'It is now past' (aπéxe), which, according to him, Jesus speaks to the slumbering disciples. He informs us how the traitor exhorted the enemies to conduct the Lord away in sure custody. He mentions the designating Rabbi, Rabbi, with which Judas fawningly approaches the Lord. On the other hand, he omits the rebuke given by the Lord to Peter for striking with the sword. Again, he alone has the little episode in the history of the apprehension of Jesus, of the young man who followed Him (vers. 5052). The open (light-giving) fire, at which Peter warmed himself among the servants, he mentions in a way suited to aid the conception. The false witness of the enemies of Jesus he gives in a more definite form: it is not, I can, but I will destroy the temple which is made with hands, and within three days build another, not made with hands. Of the false testimonies he remarks repeatedly, 'They did not agree. According to his representation, the high priest not only stands up, but also at

the same time walks into the midst of the assembly. He states the silence of Jesus with strong emphasis (ver. 61). The first denial of Peter he characteristically describes as a timid evasion. He passes by the distinction between the first maid and the second, in the part played by the maid that kept the doorboth are one. He remarks that it was the second crowing of the cock by which Peter awoke. The repentance of Peter he describes shortly and strikingly, as a great act of the heart (see above.) He characterizes Barabbas most exactly (though similarly to Luke he had been taken prisoner with them that had made insurrection, and in the insurrection had committed murder). From him we learn how speedily the people begged for the release of Barabbas, at the instigation of their superiors (xv. 8). The locality of the Pretorium he determines more exactly. He designates Simon of Cyrene as the father of Alexander and Rufus. He presents the mocking of the Crucified One in a more solemn form than Matthew (ver. 32). He gives the cry of Christ, My God, My God,' in the Syrian dialect. According to him, the man who gives the Lord to drink on the cross, calls out to the others, 'Let alone, let us see;' whilst Matthew has preserved the call of the others. He describes the three women under the cross more exactly, as those who had already followed and ministered to the Lord in Galilee, and then distinguishes from them many others who had journeyed with Him to Jerusalem. Joseph of Arimathea is called here an honourable councillor; he ventures to go to Pilate; and Pilate marvels that Jesus should be already dead, inquires cautiously of the centurion whether Jesus then really had been already a considerable time-thus certainly-dead. In the highest degree characteristic is the last point mentioned. According to Matthew, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary place themselves over against the grave in silent reflection; the lively Mark, on the contrary, introduces the circumstance that they looked on, and thus remarked for themselves where Jesus was laid. The abbreviated form in which he gives the history of the passion, has necessarily resulted in a series of omissions.

SECTION XIX.

THE RISEN LORD IN THE EVIDENCES OF HIS POWER.

(Chap. xvi.)

The divine power, in the manifestation of which Christ had sojourned on earth, revealed itself not only in His resurrection itself, but also in the evidences of His resurrection within the circle of the disciples; it revealed itself in the supernatural power of healing and saving, with which He sent forth the disciples into all the world; and in the unceasing operation of this His divine power from the throne of His glory, in connection with the word, it reveals itself evermore.

The vigilance of the company of the disciples during the time that Jesus lay in the grave, showed itself especially by the three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, going out to buy ointments as soon as the Sabbath was past-thus, therefore, late in the evening of the Saturday after the crucifixion of Christ,-and by their rising very early on the following morning, the first day of the week, to anoint the Lord, and arriving at the sepulchre just as the sun arose.

This tension of mind showed itself also in the circumstance, that it first occurred to them when already near the sepulchre, that a heavy stone had been rolled on the door of it; so that in perplexity they had to ask, 'Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?'

The stone lay also on their heart. But when they looked up -under the salutation of the morning sun-they saw that the stone was rolled away. Even from afar they could see it lying aside from the entrance; for it was very great. Thus they went into the open sepulchre. Here they beheld a youthful form sitting on the right side of the tomb, clothed in a white robe; and they were affrighted. But he said unto them, 'Be not afraid. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen: Ile is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him. But go your way, tell His disciples, and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you' (see Matt. xxvi. 32). And they went out in haste, and fled from the sepulchre; for fright and astonishment had taken hold of them:

and they said to no one a word1-in spite of the commission of the angel, until later they themselves had seen the Lord-for they were afraid.

Thus the first joyful tidings of the resurrection of Christ did not break through: they remained, in the first place, buried in the ghostly terror and in the ecstasy of the three female disciples.

Now, however-after a pause in which it was made manifest that angelic manifestations and angelic announcements alone could not have constituted an Easter festivity-the Lord Himself appeared. As the Risen One, He made Himself known, still early on that first day of the week, to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils.2 She went and told it to them who had been His attendants, as they mourned and wept. But they, when they heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

After this He appeared unto two of them-from the company of the disciples themselves-in another (new, not-at-oncerecognisable) form, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest; but these also they did not believe.

Thus there followed on the tidings of the angel, the tidings of the woman-of the female disciple; on the tidings of the woman, the tidings of the two disciples: two witnesses; yet still, the company of the disciples could not be brought to believe.

Then at length Christ Himself appeared to the eleven as they sat at meat. And as He had had so often to upbraid them with their unbelief-especially according to Mark-so He upbraided them once more for the last time: He reproved them for their hardness of heart, that they had not believed those who had seen Him after He was risen. And with His appearance in the midst of the disciples, and with the words which He spoke, the great revolution in their feelings took place.

Now were they fully healed of their unbelief by the sense of His victorious divine power. Now, therefore, He could consecrate them as witnesses of His conquering might, with the words,

1 According to Gfrörer, this remark of the Evangelist is intended to explain why the disciples did not, according to the word of the angel, proceed immediately to Galilee.

2 See Luke viii. 2. In reference to the significance of the seven devils, comp. vol. ii. p. 132.

'Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.'

And not only shall the signs of the power of Christ be transferred to the first disciples, but also to those that believe henceforward, accompanying them in the fulfilment of their calling as His disciples. These signs the Lord expresses in the words that follow:

'In My name they shall cast out devils, speak with new tongues; they shall carry forth (sling forth) serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall (with healing power) lay their hands on the sick, and shall (themselves) be well."1

They shall thus, with resistless power, banish the spirits of darkness, and, filled with the Holy Ghost, they shall speak with the tongues of blessed spirits, and so unfold the triumph of Christ in the department of spirit.

They shall free the earth from poisonous reptiles, and themselves remain free from the influence of the poison in their own life. This is the development of the triumph of Christ over nature.

Finally, by the laying on of hands they shall restore the sick, whilst they themselves shall rejoice in the strength and bloom of health. This is the triumph of Christ in the mixed constitution of soul and body in human life, which comprehends the two previous departments in unity. (See above, vol. v. p. 114.)

After the Lord had thus spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

And they went forth, and preached everywhere. And the

1 The parallelism of the clauses seems imperatively to require that the expression, xas govor, be referred to the disciples themselves. The promise consists of six members, or more exactly three times two, of which the one clause has always reference to the influence exerted by the disciples on the world, the other to their own life. The first antithesis is to cast out the spirits of darkness, and as blessed spirits to be themselves animated and prompted by the Spirit; the second: to cleanse the world from poisonous reptiles, and themselves be secured against the poison; the third: to lay hands on the sick, and themselves enjoy constant soundness. If the additional clause, xaλus ovai, be referred to the sick, it conveys little meaning. Interpreters would perhaps have more readily adopted the most natural sense of the expression, had they observed the organic` connection of the whole passage.