Sermon 18. The Tomb of Jesus

(No. 18)

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, April 8, 1855, by the

REV. C.H. SPURGEON

At Exeter Hall, Strand.

"Come, see the place where the Lord lay."-Matthew 28:6.

Every circumstance connected with the life of Christ is deeply interesting to the Christian mind. Wherever we behold our Saviour,he is well worthy of our notice.

"His cross, his manger, and his crown,

Are big with glories yet unknown."

All his weary pilgrimage, from Bethlehem's manger to Calvary's cross, is, in our eyes, paved with glory. Each spot upon whichhe trod is, to our souls, consecrated at once, simply because there the foot of earth's Saviour and our own Redeemer oncewas placed. When he comes to Calvary, the interest thickens; then our best thoughts are centered on him in the agonies ofcrucifixion, nor does our deep affection permit us to leave him, even when, the struggle being over, heyields up the ghost. His body, when it is taken down from the tree, still is lovely in our eyes-we fondly linger aroundthe motionless clay. By faith we discern Joseph of Arimathea, and the timid Nicodemus, assisted by those holy women, drawingout the nails and taking down the mangled body; we behold them wrapping him in clean, white linen, hastily girding him roundwith belts of spices; then putting him in his tomb, and departing for the Sabbath rest. We shall, on this occasion, go whereMary went on the morning of the first day of the week, when waking from her couch before the dawn, she aroused herselfto be early at the sepulchre of Jesus. We will try, if it be possible, by the help of God's Spirit, to go as she did-not inbody, but in soul-we will stand at that tomb; we will examine it, and we trust we shall hear some truth-speaking voice comingfrom its hollow bosom which will comfort and instruct us, so that we may say of the grave of Jesus when we go away, "It wasnone other than the gate of heaven"-a sacred place, deeply solemn, and sanctified by the slain body of our precious Saviour.

I. AN INVITATION GIVEN. I shall commence my remarks this morning by inviting all Christians to come with me to the tomb ofJesus. "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." We will labor to render the place attractive, we will gently take your handto guide you to it; and may it please our Master to make our hearts burn within us while we talk by the way.

Away, ye profane-ye souls whose life is laughter, folly, and mirth! Away, ye sordid and carnal minds who have no taste forthe spiritual, no delight in the celestial. We ask not your company; we speak to God's beloved, to the heirs of heaven, tothe sanctified, the redeemed, the pure in heart-and we say to them, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Surely ye needno argument to move your feet in the direction of the holy sepulchre; but still we will use the utmostpower to draw your spirit thither. Come, then, for 'tis the shrine of greatness, 'tis the resting-place of the man, the Restorer of our race, the Conqueror of death and hell. Men will travel hundreds of miles to behold the place where apoet first breathed the air of earth; they will journey to the ancient tombs of mighty heroes, or the graves of men renownedby fame; but whither shall the Christian go to find the grave of one so famous as was Jesus? Ask me the greatest man whoever lived-I tell you the man Christ Jesus was "anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellow." If ye seek a chamberhonored as the resting-place of genius, turn in hither; if ye would worship at the grave of holiness, come ye here; if yewould see the hallowed spot where the choicest bones that e'er were fashioned lay for awhile, come with me, Christian, tothat quiet garden, hard by the walls of Jerusalem.

Come with me, moreover, because it is the tomb of your best friend. The Jews said of Mary, "she goeth unto his grave to weep there." Ye have lost your friends, some of you, ye have plantedflowers upon their tombs, ye go and sit at eventide upon the green sward, bedewing the grass with your tears, for there yourmother lies, and there your father or your wife. Oh! in pensive sorrow come with me to this dark garden of our Saviour's burial;come to the grave of yourbest friend-your brother, yea, one who "sticketh closer than a brother." Come thou to the grave of thy dearest relative,O Christian, for Jesus is thy husband, "Thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name." Doth not affection drawyou? Do not the sweet lips of love woo you? Is not the place sanctified where one so well-beloved slept, although but fora moment ? Surely ye need no eloquence; if it were needed I have none. I have but the power, in simple, but earnest accents,torepeat the words, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." On this Easter morning pay a visit to his grave, for it isthe grave of you best friend.

Yea, more, I will further urge you to this pious pilgrimage. Come, for angels bid you. Angels said, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." The Syriac version reads, "Come, see the place where our Lord lay." Yes, angels put themselves with those poor women, and used one common pronoun-our. Jesus is the Lord of angels as well as of men. Ye feeble women-ye have called him Lord, ye have washed his feet, ye haveprovided for his wants, ye have hungupon his lips to catch his honeyed sentences, ye have sat entranced beneath his mighty eloquence; ye call him Master andLord, and ye do well; "But," said the seraph, "he is my Lord too;" bowing his head, he sweetly said, "Come, see the placewhere our Lord lay." Dost fear then, Christian, to step into that tomb? Dost dread to enter there, when the angel pointeth with hisfinger and saith, "Come, we will go together, angels and men, and see the royal bedchamber?" Ye know that angels didgo into his tomb, for they sat one at his head and the other at his foot in holy meditation. I picture to myself thosebright cherubs sitting there talking to one another. One of them said, "It was there his feet lay;" and the other replied,"and there his hands, and there his head;" and in celestial language did they talk concerning the deep things of God; thenthey stooped and kissed the rocky floor, made sacred to the angels themselves, not because there they were redeemed, but becausetheretheir Master and their monarch, whose high behests they were obeying, did for awhile become the slave of death, and thecaptive of destruction. Come, Christian, then, for angels are the porters to unbar the door; come, for a cherub is thy messengerto usher thee into the death-place of death himself. Nay, start not from the entrance; let not the darkness affright thee;the vault is not damp with the vapors of death, nor doth the air contain aught of contagion. Come, for it is a pure andhealthy place. Fear not to enter that tomb. I will admit that catacombs are not the places where we, who are full of joy, would love togo. There is something gloomy and noisome about a vault. there are noxious smells of corruption; oft-times pestilence is bornwhere a dead body hath lain; but fear it not, Christian, for Christ was not left in hell-in Hades-neither did his body seecorruption. Come, there is no scent, yea, rather a perfume. Step in here, and, if thou didst ever breathethe gales of Ceylon, or winds from the groves of Araby, thou shalt find them far excelled by that sweet, holy fragranceleft by the blessed body of Jesus; that alabaster vase which once held divinity, and was rendered sweet and precious thereby.Think not thou shalt find aught obnoxious to thy senses. Corruption Jesus never saw; no worms ever devoured his flesh; norottenness ever entered into his bones; he saw no corruption. Three days he slumbered, but no long enough to putrefy; he soonarose, perfect as when he entered, uninjured as when his limbs were composed for their slumber. Come then, Christian,summon up thy thoughts, gather all thy powers; here is a sweet invitation, let me press it again. Let me lead thee by thehand of meditation, my brother; let me take thee by the arm of thy fancy, and let me again say to thee, "Come, see the placewhere the Lord lay."

There is yet one reason more why I would have thee visit this royal sepulchre-because it is a quiet spot. Oh! I have longed for rest, for I have heard this world's rumors in my ears so long, that I have begged for

"A lodge in some vast wilderness,

Some boundless contiguity of shade,"

where I might hide myself forever. I am sick of this tiring and trying life; my frame is weary, my soul is mad to repose herselfawhile. I would I could lay myself down a little by the edge of some pebbly brook, with no companion save the fair flowersor the nodding willows. I would I could recline in stillness, where the air brings balm to the tormented brain, where thereis no murmur save the hum of the summer bee, no whisper save that of the zephyrs, and no song exceptthe caroling of the lark. I wish I could be at ease for a moment. I have become a man of the world; my brain is racked,my soul is tired. Oh! wouldst thou be quiet, Christian? Merchant, wouldst thou rest from thy toils? wouldst thou be calm foronce? Then come hither. It is in a pleasant garden, far from the hum of Jerusalem; the noise and din of business will notreach thee there; "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." It is a sweet resting spot, a withdrawing room for thy soul, wherethoumayest brush from thy garments the dust of earth and muse awhile in peace.

II. ATTENTION REQUESTED. Thus I have pressed the invitation; now we will enter the tomb. Let us examine it with deep attention,noticing every circumstance connected with it.

And, first, mark that it is a costly tomb. It is no common grave; it is not an excavation dug out by the spade for a pauper, in which to hide the last remains of hismiserable and overwearied bones. It is a princely tomb; it was made of marble, cut in the side of a hill. Stand here, believer,and ask why Jesus had such a costly sepulchre. He had no elegant garments; he wore a coat without seam, woven from the topthroughout, without an atom of embroidery. He ownedno sumptuous palace, for he had not where to lay his head. His sandals were not rich with gold, or studded with brilliants.He was poor. Why, then does he lie in a noble grave? We answer, for this reason: Christ was unhonored till he had finishedhis sufferings; Christ's body suffered contumely, shame, spitting, buffeting, and reproach, until he had completed his greatwork; he was trampled under foot, he was "despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;" butthemoment he had finished his undertaking, God said, "No more shall that body be disgraced; if it is to sleep, let it slumberin an honorable grave; if it is to rest, let nobles bury it; let Joseph, the councillor, and Nicodemus, the man of Sanhedrim,be present at the funeral; let the body be embalmed with precious spices, let it have honor; it has had enough of contumely,and shame, and reproach, and buffeting; let it now be treated with respect." Christian, dost thou discern the meaning? Jesus,after he had finished his work, slept in a costly grave; for now his Father loved and honored him, since his work wasdone.

But, though it is a costly grave, it is a borrowed one. I see over the top of it, "Sacred to the memory of the family of Joseph of Arimathea;" yet Jesus slept there. Yes, he wasburied in another's sepulchre. He who had no house of his own, and rested in the habitation of other men; who had no table,but lived upon the hospitality of his disciples; who borrowed boats in which to preach, and had not anything in the wide world,was obliged to have a tomb from charity.Oh! should not the poor take courage? They dread to be buried at the expense of their neighbors, but if their povertybe unavoidable, wherefore should they blush, since Jesus Christ himself was interred in another's grave? Ah! I wish I mighthave had Joseph's grave to let Jesus be buried in it. Good Joseph thought he had cut it out for himself, and that he shouldlay his bones there. He had it excavated as a family vault, and lo, the Son of David makes it one of the tombs of the kings.But hedid not lose it by lending it to the Lord; rather, he had it back with precious interest. He only lent it three days;then Christ resigned it; he had not injured, but perfumed and sanctified it, and make it far more holy, so that it would bean honor in future to be buried there. It was a borrowed tomb; and why? I take it, not to dishonor Christ, but in order toshow that, as his sins were borrowed sins, so his burial was in a borrowed grave. Christ had no transgressions of his own;he tookours upon his head; he never committed a wrong, but he took all my sin, and all yours, if ye are believers; concerningall his people, it is true, he bore their griefs and carried their sorrows in his own body on the tree; therefore, as theywere others' sins, so he rested in another's grave; as they were sins imputed, so that grave was only imputedly his. It wasnot his sepulchre; it was the tomb of Joseph.

Let us not weary in this pious investigation, but with fixed attention observe everything connected with this holy spot. Thegrave, we observe, was cut in a rock. Why was this? the rock of Ages was buried in a rock-a Rock within a rock. But why? Most persons suggest that it was so ordained,that it might be clear that there was no covert way by which the disciples or others could enter and steal the body away.Very possibly it was the reason; but O! my soul, canstthou find a spiritual reason? Christ's sepulchre was cut in a rock. It was not cut in mould that might be worn away bythe water, or might crumble and fall into decay. The sepulchre stands, I believe, entire to this day; if it does not naturally,it does spiritually. The same sepulchre which took the sins of Paul, shall take my iniquities into his bosom, for if I everlose my guilt, it must roll off my shoulders into the sepulchre. It was cut in a rock, so that if a sinner were saved a thousandyears ago, I too can be delivered, for it is a rocky sepulchre where sin was buried-it was a rocky sepulchre of marblewhere my crimes were laid forever-buried never to have a resurrection.

You will mark, moreover, that tomb was one wherein no other man had ever lain. Christopher Ness says, when Christ was born, he lay in a virgin's womb, and when he died, he was placed in a virgin tomb;he slept where never man had slept before. The reason was that none might say that another person rose, for there never hadbeen any other body there, thus a mistake of persons was impossible. Nor could it be said that some old prophet was interredin the place, andthat Christ rose because he had touched his bones. You remember where Elisha was buried; and as they were burying a man,behold he touched the prophet's bones and arose. Christ touched no prophet's bones, for none had ever slept there; it wasa new chamber where the monarch of the earth did take his rest for three day and three nights.

We have learned a little, then, with attention; but let us stoop down once more before we leave the grave, and notice somethingelse. We see the grave, but do you notice the grave-clothes, all wrapped and laid in their places, the napkin being folded up by itself? Wherefore are the grave-clothes wrapped up?The Jews said robbers had abstracted the body; but if so, surely they would have stolen the clothes; they would never havethought of wrapping them up an layingthem down so carefully; they would be too much in haste to think of it. Why was it then? To manifest to us that Christdid not come out in a hurried manner. He slept till the last moment; then he awoke; he came not in haste. They shall not comeout in haste, neither by flight, but at the appointed moment shall his people come to him. So at the precise hour, the decreedinstant, Jesus Christ leisurely awoke, took off his cerements, left them all behind him, and came forth in his pure and nakedinnocence, perhaps to show us that as clothes were the offspring of sin-when sin was atoned for by Christ, he left allraiment behind him-for garments are the badges of guilt: if we had not been guilty we should never have needed them.

Then the napkin, mark you, was laid by itself. The grave-clothes were left behind for every departed Christian to wear. Thebed of death is well sheeted with garments of Jesus, but the napkin was laid by itself, because the Christian, when he dies,does not need that; it is used by the mourners, and the mourners only. We shall all wear grave-clothes, but we shall not needthe napkin. When our friends die, the napkin is laid aside for us to use; but do our ascended brethrenand sisters use it? No; the Lord God hath wiped away all tears from their eyes. We stand and view the corpses of the deardeparted, we moisten their faces with our tears, letting whole showers of grief fall on their heads; but do they weep? Oh, no. Could they speak to us from the upper spheres they would say, "Weep not for me, for I am glorified. Sorrownot for me; I have left a bad world behind me, and have entered into a far better." They have no napkin-they weep not. Strangeit isthat those who endure death weep not; but those who see them die, are weepers. When the child is born it weeps while otherssmile, (say the Arabs,) and when it dies it smiles while others weep. It is so with the Christian. O blessed thing! The napkinis laid by itself, because Christians will never want to use it when they die.

III. Emotion excited. We have thus surveyed the grave with deep attention, and, I hope, with some profit to ourselves. But that is not all. I lovea religion which consists, in a great measure, of emotion. Now, if I had power, like a master, I would touch the strings ofyour hearts, and fetch a glorious tune of solemn music from them, for this is a deeply solemn place into which I have conductedyou.

First, I would bid you stand and see the place where the Lord lay with emotions of deep sorrow. Oh cone, my beloved brother, thy Jesus once lay there. He was a murdered man, my soul, and thou the murderer.

"Ah, you my sins, my cruel sins,

His chief tormentors were,

Each of my crimes became a nail,

And unbelief the spear."

"Alas! and did my Saviour bleed?

And did my Sov'reign die?"

I slew him-this right hand struck the dagger to his heart. My deeds slew Christ. Alas! I slew my best beloved; I killed himwho loved me with an everlasting love. Ye eyes, why do you refuse to weep when ye see Jesus' body mangled and torn? Oh! givevent to your sorrow, Christians, for ye have good reason to do so. I believe in what Hart says, that there was a time in hisexperience when he could so sympathize with Christ, that he felt more grief at the death of Christthan he did joy. It seemed so sad a thing that Christ should have to die; and to me it often appears too great a pricefor Jesus Christ to purchase worms with his own blood. Methinks I love him so much, that if I had seen him about to suffer,I should have been as bad as Peter, and have said, "That be far from thee, Lord;" but then he would have said to me, "Getthee behind me, Satan", for he does not approve of that love which would stop him from dying. "The cup which my Father hathgiven me,shall I not drink it?" But I think, had I seen him going up to his cross, I could fain have pressed him back and said"Oh! Jesus, thou shalt not die; I cannot have it. Wilt thou purchase my life with a price so dear?" It seems too costly forhim who is the Prince of Life and Glory to let his fair limbs be tortured in agony; that the hands which carried mercies shouldbe pierced with accursed nails; that the temples that were always clothed with love should have cruel thorns driven throughthem.It appears too much. Oh! weep, Christian, and let your sorrow rise. Is not the price all but too great, that your belovedshould for you resign himself? Oh! I should think, if a person were saved from death by another, he would always feel deep grief if his deliverer lost hislife in the attempt. I had a friend, who, standing by the side of a piece of frozen water, saw a young lad in it, and sprangupon the ice in order to save him. After clutching the boy, he held him in his hands andcried out, "Here he is! Here he is! I have saved him." But, just as they caught hold of the boy, he sank himself, andhis body was not found for some time afterwards, when he was quite dead. Oh! it is so with Jesus. My soul was drowning. Fromheaven's high portals he saw me sinking in the depths of hell; he plunged in:

"He sank beneath his heavy woes,

To raise me to a crown;

There's ne'er a gift his hand bestows,

But cost his heart a groan."

Ah! we may indeed regret our sin, since it slew Jesus.

Now, Christian, change thy note a moment. "Come, see the place where the Lord lay," with joy and gladness. He does not lie there now. Weep, when ye see the tomb of Christ, but rejoice because it is empty. Thy sin slew him, but hisdivinity raised him up. Thy guilt hath murdered him, but his righteousness hath restored him. Oh! he hath burst the bondsof death, he hath ungirt the cerements of the tomb, and hath come out more than conqueror, crushing death beneath hisfeet. Rejoice, O Christian, for he is not there-he is risen.

"Come, see the place where the Lord lay."

One more thought, and then I will speak a little concerning the doctrines we may learn from this grave. "Come, see the placewhere the Lord lay." with solemn awe for you and I will have to lie there too.

"Hark! from the tomb a doleful sound,

Mine ears, attend the cry,

Ye living men, come view the ground

Where ye must shortly lie."

"Princes, this clay must be your bed,

In spite of all your powers.

The tall, the wise, the reverend head,

Must lie as low as ours."

It is a fact we do not often think of, that we shall all be dead in a little while. I know that I am made of dust, and notof iron; my bones are not brass, nor my sinews steel; in a little while my body must crumble back to its native elements.But do you ever try to picture to yourself the moment of your dissolution? My friends, there are some of you who seldom realizehow old you are, how near you are to death. One way of remembering our age, is to see how much remains.Think how old eighty is, and then see how few years there are before you will get there. We should remember our frailty.Sometimes I have tried to think of the time of my departure. I do not know whether I shall die a violent death or not; butI would to God that I might die suddenly; for sudden death is sudden glory. I would I might have such a blessed exit as Dr.Beaumont, and die in my pulpit, laying down my body with my charge, and ceasing at once to work and live. But it is not minetochoose. Suppose I lie lingering for weeks, in the midst of pains, and griefs, and agonies; when that moment comes, thatmoment which is too solemn for my lips to speak of, when the spirit leaves the clay-let the physician put it off for weeks,or years, as we say he does, though he does not-when that moment comes, O ye lips, be dumb, and profane not its solemnity.When death comes, how is the strong man bowed down! How doth the mighty man fall! They may say they will not die, but thereisno hope for them; they must yield, the arrow has gone home. I knew a man who was a wicked wretch, and I remember seeinghim pace the floor of his bedroom saying "O God, I will not die, I will not die." When I begged him to lie on his bed, forhe was dying, he said he could not die while he could walk, and he would walk till he did die. Ah! he expired in the utmosttorments, always shrieking, "O God, I will not die." Oh! that moment, that last moment. See how clammy is the sweat upon thebrow,how dry the tongue, how parched the lips. The man shuts his eyes and slumbers, then opens them again: and if he be a Christian,I can fancy that he will say:

"Hark! they whisper: angels say,

Sister spirit, come away.

What is this absorbs me quite-

Steals my senses-shuts my sight-

Drowns my spirit-draws my breath?

Tell me, my soul, can this be death?"

We know not when he is dying. One gentle sigh, and the spirit breaks away. We can scarcely say, "he is gone," before the ransomedspirit takes its mansion near the throne. Come to Christ's tomb, then, for the silent vault must soon be your habitation.Come to Christ's grave, for ye must slumber there. And even you, ye sinners, for one moment I will ask you to come also, becauseye must die as well as the rest of us. Your sins cannot keep you from the jaws of death. I say,sinner, I want thee to look at Christ's sepulchre too, for when thou diest it may have done thee great good to think ofit. You have heard of Queen Elizabeth, crying out that she would give an empire for a single hour. Or have you heard the despairingcry of the gentleman on board the "Arctic," when it was going down, who shouted to the boat, "Come back! I will give you £30,000if you will come and take me in." Ah! poor man, it were but little if he had thirty thousand worlds, if he couldthereby prolong his life: "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life." Some of you who can laughthis morning, who came to spend a merry hour in this hall, will be dying, and then ye will pray and crave for life, and shriekfor another Sabbath-day. Oh! how the Sabbaths ye have wasted will walk like ghosts before you! Oh! how they will shake theirsnaky hair in your eyes! How will ye be made to sorrow and weep, because ye wasted precious hours, which, when they are gone,are gone too far to be recalled. May God save you from the pangs of remorse.

IV. INSTRUCTION IMPARTED. And now, Christian brethren, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay," to learn a doctrine or two.What did you see when you visited "the place where the Lord lay?" "He is not here; for he is risen." The first thing you perceive,if you stand by his empty tomb, is his divinity. The dead in Christ shall rise first at the resurrection: but he who rose first-their leader, rose in a different fashion.They rise by imparted power. He rose byhis own. He could not slumber in the grave, because he was God. Death had no more dominion over him. There is no betterproof of Christ's divinity that that startling resurrection of his, when he rose from the grave, by the glory of the Father.O Christian, thy Jesus is a God; his broad shoulders that hold thee up are indeed divine; and here thou hast the best proofof it-because he rose from the grave.

A second doctrine here taught well may charm thee, if the Holy Spirit apply it with power. Behold his empty tomb, O true believer:it is a sign of thine acquittal, and thy full discharge. If Jesus had not paid the debt, he ne'er had risen from the grave. He would have lain there tillthis moment if he had not cancelled the entire debt, by satisfying eternal vengeance. O beloved, is not that an overwhelmingthought?

"It is finished, it is finished,

Hear the rising Saviour cry."

The heavenly turnkey came, a bright angel stepped from heaven and rolled away the stone; but he would not have done so ifChrist had not done all: he would have kept him there, he would have said, "Nay, nay, thou art the sinner now; thou hast thesins of all thine elect upon thy shoulder, and I will not let thee go free till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." Inhis going free I see my own discharge.

"My Jesu's blood's my full discharge."

As a justified man, I have not a sin now against me in God's book. If I were to turn over God's eternal book, I should seeevery debt of mine receipted and cancelled.

"Here's pardon for transgressions past,

It matter not how black their cast,

And O my soul, with wonder view,

For sins to come, here's pardon too.

Fully discharged by Christ I am,

From Christ's tremendous curse and blame."

One more doctrine we learn, and with that we will conclude-the doctrine of the resurrection. Jesus rose, and as the Lord our Saviour rose, so all his followers must rise. Die I must-this body must be a carnival forworms; it must be eaten by those tiny cannibals; peradventure it shall be scattered from one portion of the earth to another;the constituent particles of this my frame will enter into plants, from plants pass into animals, and thus be carried intofar distant realms; but, at the blast of the archangel's trumpet, every separate atom of my body shall find its fellow;like the bones lying in the valley of vision, though separated from one another, the moment God shall speak, the bone willcreep to its bone; then the flesh shall come upon it; the four winds of heaven shall blow, and the breath shall return. Solet me die, let beasts devour me, let fire turn this body into gas and vapor, all its particles shall yet again be restored;thisvery self-same, actual body shall start up from its grave, glorified and made like Christ's body, yet still the same body,for God hath said it. Christ's same body rose; so shall mine. O my soul, dost thou now dread to die? Thou wilt lose thy partnerbody a little while, but thou wilt be married again in heaven; soul and body shall again be united before the throne of God.The grave-what is it? It is the bath in which the Christian puts the clothes of his body to have them washed andcleansed. Death-what is it? It is the waiting-room where we robe ourselves for immortality; it is the place where thebody, like Esther, bathes itself in spices that it may be fit for the embrace of its Lord. Death is the gate of life; I willnot fear to die, then, but will say,

"Shudder not to pass the stream;

Venture all thy care on him;

Him whose dying love and power

Stilled its tossing, hushed its roar,

Safe in the expanded wave;

Gentle as a summer's eve.

Not one object of his care

Ever suffered shipwreck there."

Come, view the place then, with all hallowed meditation, where the Lord lay. Spend this afternoon, my beloved brethren, inmeditating upon it, and very often go to Christ's grave, both to weep and to rejoice. Ye timid ones, do not be afraid to approach,for 'tis no vain thing to remember that timidity buried Christ. Faith would not have given him a funeral at all; faith wouldhave kept him above ground, and would never have let him be buried; for it would have said, itwould be useless to bury Christ if he were to rise. Fear buried him. Nicodemus, the night disciple, and Joseph of Arimathea,secretly, for fear of the Jews, went and buried him. Therefore, ye timid ones, ye may go too. Ready-to-halt, poor Fearing,and thou, Mrs. Despondency, and Much-afraid, go often there; let it be your favorite haunt, there build a tabernacle, thereabide. And often say to your heart, when you are in distress and sorrow, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay."