the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that
slept. And as by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of
the dead."

III. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE EFFECTS OF THEIR TWO DEATHS ON THE
FOLLOWERS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST AND OF JESUS RESPECTIVELY.--What a
picture for an artist of sacred subjects is presented by the
performance of the last rites to the remains of the great Forerunner!
There was probably neither a Joseph nor a Nicodemus among his
disciples; certainly no Magdalene nor mother. Devout men bore him to
his grave, and made great lamentation over him. He had taught them to
pray, to know God, to prepare for the Kingdom of God. They had also
fasted oft beneath his suggestion; but they were destined to experience
what fasting meant, after a new fashion, now that their leader was
taken away from them.

The little band broke up at his grave. Farewell! they said to him;
farewell to their ministry and mission; farewell to one another. "I go
back to my boats and fishing-nets," said one; and "I to my farm," said
another; and "We shall go and join Jesus of Nazareth," said the rest.
"Good-bye!" "Good-bye!" And so the little band separated, never to
meet in a common corporate existence again.

When Jesus lay in his grave, this process of disintegration began at
once among his followers also. The women went to embalm Him; the men
were apart. Peter and John broke off together--at least they ran
together to the sepulchre; but where were the rest? Two walked to
Emmaus apart; whilst Thomas was not with them when Jesus came on the
evening of Easter Day. As soon as the breath leaves the body
disintegration begins; and when Jesus was dead, as they supposed, the
same process began to show itself. Soon Peter would have been back in
Gennesaret; Nathanael beneath his fig-tree, Luke in his dispensary, and
Matthew at his toll-booth.

What arrested that process and made it impossible? Why did the day,
which began with a certain amount of separation and decay, end with a
closer consolidation than ever, so that they were, for the most part,
gathered in the upper room; and forty days after they were all with one
accord in one place? Why was it that they who had been like timid
deer, before He died, became as lions against the storm of Pharisaic
hate, and stronger as the weeks passed?

There is only one answer to these questions. The followers of Jesus
were convinced by irrefragable proofs that their Master was