ried in His tomb long enough to lay
aside the bandages of death. When he saw the careful arrangement of the
grave-cloths, "he believed" that Jesus had risen. We are not to infer
from his mention of himself only that Peter did not share in this
belief. We can believe that Luke does not complete the story when he
says that Peter "departed to his home wondering at that which was come
to pass." As they came down from the Mount of Transfiguration they were
"questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should
mean." As they came from the tomb they questioned no longer.

[Illustration: THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT _Old Engraving_ Page 224]

We long for a yet fuller record than that which John has given of what
passed when he and Peter were within the tomb. He frankly tells us that
"as yet they knew not the Scriptures, that He must rise again from the
dead." Neither prophecy, nor the Scriptures, nor the Lord's repeated
declarations, had prepared them for this hour of fulfilment.

We imagine them lingering in the tomb, talking of the past, recalling
the words of their Lord, illumined in the very darkness of His
sepulchre, and both wondering what the future might reveal. At last they
left the tomb together. There was no occasion now for John to outrun
Peter. They were calm and joyful. There was nothing more to see or to
do. "So the disciples went away again unto their own home."

"But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping." In these words John
turns our thoughts from himself to her who had summoned him and Peter,
and then followed them. After they had left the sepulchre she continued
standing, bitterly weeping. She could not refrain from seeking that
which she had told the disciples was not there. Her gaze was "at the
very cause of her grief." "She stooped and looked into the tomb" as John
had done.

From the infancy of Jesus to His death there was no ministry of angels
to men, though they ministered to Him. "The Master being by, it behooved
the servant to keep silence." But the angelic voices that proclaimed His
birth, were heard again after His resurrection. According to John's
minute description Mary "beholdeth two angels in white sitting, one at
the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain." The
angelic silence was broken by them both, with the question, "Woman, why
weepest thou"--so bitterly and continuously? They might have added, "It
is all without a cause." Her answer w