[16] Gilbert West on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Boston, 1834 (first published in England in 1747), p. 67.
[17] See chap. xvi, p. 89, ante, [p. 89].
[18] “The cerements were there, but the body was gone. Whither? Had it been stolen and hidden? Who would have been the thieves? Friends or foes? Not friends; for how could their faith be made heroic for their crusade against the world’s unbelief by a theft and a carcase? Not foes; for it was their interest to prevent the disappearance of the body, that there might be ocular demonstration of the falsity of the predicted resurrection. The fact of the actual resurrection of our Lord is a rock-of-ages that never can be moved.”—Commentary on Mark, by James Morrison, D.D. (1882), p. 445.
CHAPTER XIX.
SUFFICIENCY OF THE PROOFS (AFFIRMATIVE EVIDENCE).
Holding, then, the objectors to the historical record, and keeping in mind that the question is narrowed down to the hypothesis of visions on the one hand, or to a true resurrection on the other, what evidence had the Apostles and immediate disciples that they were not deceived?
First and foremost, they had the empty tomb. They knew[1] that the body was neither left on the cross, in violation of the Jewish law, nor thrown to the “dust-heap,” in violation of the Roman law which required a delivery to the friends as soon as claimed, but was placed in the sepulchre, as attested by all the Evangelists, as also by Paul. They knew that they had not taken it away, and that if the Jews had, they would have been but too ready to produce it when, only a few days after, it was boldly proclaimed, that that Jesus whom they had crucified, God had raised from the dead. It was the absence of the body that first arrested the attention of the women, and also of Peter and John, and which, with the orderly arrangement of the grave clothes, induced a conviction of the truth in the mind of John, before Jesus appeared to any, and sent Peter to his home “wondering.” And these same facts (the good faith of the disciples themselves being undoubted), can never be explained, in any rational way, otherwise than by the fact of the Resurrection. There is a great truth in Professor Keim’s expression[2] that: “It is upon an empty tomb that the Christian Church is founded.”
They had further proof, in subsequent appearances to individuals singly, to the collective body of Apostles, and to the multitude of believers, under circumstances that satisfied them, and should convince us, that they were not deceived.
There are several things to be considered, in determining whether they were deceived. First, in respect to time. There were no appearances till after the fact that the tomb was empty was fully understood, nor till some hours after. This lapse of time has been overlooked by most writers; and, from want of attention to it, inconsistencies as to occurrences at the sepulchre, as to the number and appearance of angels, the companies of women, the persons composing them, the messages received and carried, and the appearances to them, of our risen Lord, have been imagined, that are easily explained, upon the very natural hypothesis of several transactions of like character during the six hours or more[3] which elapsed before the journey to Emmaus. At that time no one had seen the Lord; for it cannot be doubted that his appearance would be reported as soon as possible after its occurrence. When Jesus joined the two disciples, their eyes were “holden,” until in a long discourse he had prepared them for a revelation of himself. Peter must have meditated some hours upon the absence of the body, before Jesus showed himself to him. It was not till after this, and after the return of the disciples from Emmaus, that he said to the others, “Peace be unto you.” Then a whole week, before he returns. Then, probably after a longer interval (for they returned to Galilee), he shows himself at the Sea of Tiberias. Then, after some days, to above five hundred brethren, at a place to which they had been directed to go by the angels, and by Jesus both before and after his resurrection. Then to James. And then at Jerusalem to the Apostles, whom he led out over against Bethany; and while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
In all this, we see how they were prepared to exercise a sober and intelligent judgment, so that neither they, nor we, should be in doubt whether what they beheld was their risen Lord, or a phantom of their own imagination.