of the suffering He had endured except the marks of
His wounds. The feet that had been pierced bore Him from Jerusalem to
Emmaus, a journey of threescore furlongs; and He passed from place to
place with a swiftness of movement and a superiority to obstacles that
filled the disciples with amazement.

In the light of these facts, the view we have been considering is
utterly untenable. It is no matter for wonder that Jesus, after such
exhaustion, died six hours after He had been lifted up on the cross. The
circumstances which preceded His dying are not consistent with the
opinion that while in the sepulchre He recovered from a swoon. It is not
possible to conceive that a man, wounded and bruised--His hands, feet,
and side pierced with nails and spear--could appear so soon, bright and
radiant, strong and vigorous, undistressed by pain or weakness, and
possessing power of movement not only restored, but marvellously
augmented. If Jesus was not really "dead," no explanation can be given
of His disappearance from history. If He had really lived as a man after
His crucifixion, we should have looked for a fresh outbreak of
persecution directed against Him. We have His own testimony by the
Spirit, "I am he that liveth, and was dead."[109]

SECTION 4.--AND BURIED

Isaiah thus prophesied regarding the burial of the Messiah: "He was cut
off out of the land of the living ... and he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death."[110] In ordinary circumstances,
the body of a crucified person would not have received burial. It was
the Roman custom to leave the bodies of slaves and criminals, who alone
were subjected to this punishment, suspended on the cross, a prey to
beasts and birds, and when these and the elements had done their work
upon the flesh, the remains were ignominiously cast out. The Jews, who
inflicted capital punishment not by crucifixion but by stoning, did not
thus deal with the bodies of malefactors; but, as the law directed, gave
them burial on the night of execution.[111] The presence of dead bodies
in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem during the Passover festival was
regarded as a defilement, and steps were taken to have those of Jesus
and the malefactors removed. The Jews could not themselves dispose of
the bodies, because they would have sustained pollution by contact with
them, and also because they had made over to the Romans the execution of
the death-sentence. "The Jews therefore, becaus