Father, my Dear Father:—How shall I make known
to you in words, the marvellous, joyous, happy, happy,
and most wonderful news which I have to tell! My
heart beats, my hand trembles with rapture, while a sense
of profound awe impresses all my soul. Jesus is alive!
Jesus has RISEN FROM THE DEAD! Jesus has proved himself
to be the Son of God! Oh, now we know that Jesus
is, indeed, the Messias who should come! Oh, that I
could have doubted! Alas! that I should have written
to you such words of disbelief and of doubt, and have

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thought him in my heart a deceiver! But I have seen
him, and he has forgiven me! None of us understood
his words, which he spake to us before his crucifixion,
concerning his death, and hence all our consternation and
despair. But now we clearly perceive the meaning of all,
and are amazed at our dullness and disbelief. His death,
to our benighted apprehensions, seemed the seal to a life
of falsehood: the proof that he was a false prophet, rather
than, as we now know it to be, a proof of his being the
Son of God, by his resurrection from the dead!

I can scarcely hold my pen for joy and wonder, or collect
my thoughts, for very amazement, at what has transpired.
But I will try, and calm my emotions, in order,
my dear father, to make known to you the mighty events
which have come to pass to-day.

My last letter to you abruptly closed, as I was interrupted
by loud exclamations of gladness, and great confusion,
of running and calling, in the courts and corridors
below. Upon hearing my name called by Mary, and
others, in eager, joy trembling tones, I hastened to go
down. On reaching the staircase I met my cousin Mary,
ascending, almost flying. Wonder, love, and happiness inexpressible,
beamed from her beautiful countenance. Meeting
me, she threw her arms about my neck, and essayed
to utter something, but her heart was too full, and bursting
into sobs, she wept convulsively upon my bosom, in an
ecstacy of delirious joy.

Amazed and confounded, not knowing what had happened,
I held her to my heart, and tried to soothe her emotion.
The voice of Martha now reached my ears from the
foot of the stairs, talking rapidly to Rabbi Amos, who answered
with loud exclamations!

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“What—what hath happened? Speak, dear Mary!” I
asked, unable to wait longer in suspense.

She raised her head, and through her tears and smiles,
at length said, brokenly:

“He—He—is—risen—oh, He is risen from the tomb!”

“Who?” I cried, half-believing, yet doubting.

“The Lord! Our Mighty Master—Jesus—the very
Son of God, the Blessed! He is alive, Adina—alive and
well!”

“You have seen a vision, or your grief, at his death,
Mary, has shaken your reason,” I answered her.

Upon this she released herself from my arm, and fixing
upon me her large, earnest eyes, said:

“Adina, be not faithless, but believing. Jesus is risen
from the dead. He is alive, and walking! I have seen
Him—he has spoken to Mary of Bethany, Lazarus's sister,
and also to me! Oh, joy, joy! He is the very Son of the
Highest, and we have not been deceived; but we have
been blind, and deaf, and ignorant, not to have understood
that he must die, and rise again the third day! Come—
delay not! I have flown into the city to tell thee; and
Mary has told Peter and John, whom she met at the
door, and who, doubting, as thou hast done, yet have run
to see if these things be so. They will find the sepulchre
empty. Haste thee to go with us!”

While overwhelmed with wonder, and trembling with
joy, I was preparing to accompany her, Martha appeared,
her face radiant with celestial happiness:

“You have heard the tidings of great joy, O Adina!”

“Can they be true, Martha?” I asked, earnestly.

“Yes, for I have seen him walking, heard his voice,

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and touched him! You, also, shall see him, for he hath
sent us to tell his disciples.”

At the gateway we met Mary of Bethany, who had been
telling John and Peter the news, and had also made it
known to Rabbi Amos and Nicodemus, who were talking
together in the court, upon the crucifixion, when she burst
in upon them with the cries I had heard—“He is risen—
He is risen!”

We three now hastened together towards the garden of
Joseph, I wishing my feet wings, that I might reach the
sepulchre sooner, fearing that the vision of Jesus would
be vanished ere I arrived. As we were going out of the
gate, we were met by four or five Roman soldiers, who,
with aspects stamped with fear, were running past us into
the city.

“What means this flight and terror, men?” cried the
captain of the gate. “You fly as if you were in full retreat
from an enemy. Speak, Marius, you seem to have
your senses!” he demanded, of the youngest of the soldiers.

We paused to hear what he said.

“Per Dian, captain—we have been terrified beyond
measure,” answered the soldier. “My heart beats yet,
as if it were an alarum-drum. You see, we were a part
of the guard left in charge of the sepulchre of this Jewish
Prophet, crucified three days ago. Before dawn this morning,
as I was pacing to and fro before the tomb, and my
comrades were reclining about at ease, and while I was
idly gazing at the morning star, fading into the dawn,
there suddenly shone round about us a light, like a descending
meteor, accompanied by a rushing, like a legion
of wings. The men started to their feet in amazement!
On looking about us I saw a dazzling form, in the mid

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heavens, with broad wings of gold, sparkling with myriads
of stars, every feather a star, and clad in raiment white
and gleaming as the summer's lightning. This terrible
presence, like that of one of the Dii Immortales, made us
fear exceedingly, beyond any terror we had before experienced.
But when we saw this mighty being descend
straight towards the tomb, and beheld the resplendent
majesty of his celestial visage, which blinded us, our
hearts failed within us. The angel, or god, alighted amid
a blaze of radiance at the door of the sepulchre; and as
his foot touched the earth, it trembled, as if with a great
earthquake. The soldiers shook with terror, and fell to
the ground, before his presence, as dead men. I stood,
unable to move, frozen by fear to a statue. He touched
the great stone door with one of his fingers, and it rolled
outward at his feet, as if a catapult had struck it, and like
a Jove taking his throne, he sat upon it!

“But one thing more,” continued the soldier, “was
wanting to fill my cup of terror to the full. And it followed.
I saw the crucified Prophet rise up from the slab
on which he was laid, and stand upon his feet, and walk
forth alive, with the tread of some mighty conqueror! The
celestial being, so terrible in his majestic splendor, veiled
his face with his wings before his presence, and prostrated
himself at his feet, as if in homage to one greater than
himself!

“I saw no more, but fell, insensible with terror, to the
earth. When, at length, I came to myself, the tomb was
filled with dazzling forms of resplendent beauty; the air
rung with music, such as mortals never before heard; and
I fled, pursued by my fears, the rest of the soldiers rising,
and following me, each man fearing to look back.”

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“This is indeed marvelous,” answered the captain of
the gate; “I saw the light, and felt the tremor of the
earth; but I thought it was a thunderbolt which had
struck the ground near the hill of Calvary. Go, let the
Prefect Æmilius, or Pilate himself, know what has happened.”

The soldiers hurried forward into the city; while, confirmed
now in the certainty that Jesus was risen, I hastened,
with Martha and Mary, in the direction of the garden

“Thou believest now, Adina,” said Mary of Bethany, to
me, as we flew along.

“Yes—only let me behold him face to face, and I shall
then be willing, at that hour, to meet death. How did
the risen Lord look, Mary?” I asked.

“There was the same benign and holy expression—the
same divine majesty, the same loving words, and celestial
dignity.”

“How and where did you behold him, Mary?” I interrogated,
as we drew near to the steep path leading to
the gate of Joseph's garden.

“When we reached the tomb, with our spices and precious
ointments, to embalm the body, we found it open,
and the soldiers, who had guarded it, lying about upon the
ground like dead men. Upon the stone sat the archangel,
but the resplendent light of his apparel and countenance
were so tempered to our eyes, that, although we believed
that it was an angel, we were not terrified, for his looks
were kind, and the aspect of his face divinely beautiful,
combined with a terrible and indescribable majesty. We
shook with fear, and stood still, unable to move, gazing on
him in silent expectation.

“`Fear not, ye,' he said, in a voice that seemed to fill

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the air about us with undulating music, `fear not, daughters
of Abraham. I know that ye seek Jesus, which was
crucified! He is not here, but is risen, as he foretold. Lo!
see the place where the Lord of Life, and Conqueror of
Death, hath lain!'

We then timidly approached, and looked in, and saw the
sepulchre empty; but a soft light filled the whole place.

“`Go and tell his disciples, that the Lord is risen,'
added the angel; `and that he will go before them into
Galilee. There shall they see him not many days hence!'

“When the angel had thus spoken to us,” continued
Mary, “we departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear
and great joy, and ran to go into the city, to bring his
disciples word, according to the command of the angel.
But I had not advanced so far as the gate of the garden,
being behind the rest, when I beheld Jesus himself standing
in my path. I stopped, between terror and joy.

“`All hail! daughter of Israel,' he said, `Be not afraid.
I am living, that was dead! It was needful that I should
die, and rise again, that I might raise up from the dead all
who die in me, to life immortal. Go, Mary, and tell my
mother and my brethren, and Peter, and John, and Lazarus,
that I am risen, and that I have spoken with you.
Behold my wounded hands, that it is I myself! Be not
afraid! I am the resurrection and the life!'

“I then cast myself at his feet, and worshiped him;
and when I looked up, he was gone.

“The others did not see him. We now continued on
to the city, as if we had wings; yet, rapidly as we went,
some of the same Roman watch whom we met coming in
just now, passed us, in their flight and alarm; for they
fled at first in different parties, different ways. But see!

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we are now at the gate of the garden,” added Mary of
Bethany, in a low tone of awe. “He must be near us.”

But we approached the tomb without seeing any man,
having arrived before Peter and John, who had been delayed
sometime at the Jaffa gate, which route they took,
as being nighest; but it was not opened when they reached
it, and they were detained. We, therefore, found no one
at the sepulchre. It was open, and empty. The stone in
front, on which the archangel sat, was vacant. As we
drew near, a bright light suddenly shone out from the
tomb; and upon going nigher I beheld two angels, clothed
in white robes, and with countenances of Divine radiance,
seated, one at the head, and the other at the foot of the
slab of marble, on which the body of Jesus had lain. At
the sight of these noble and beautiful beings, which we
knew were sons of God, come down from heaven, we were
affrighted. I sank upon the stone which had been rolled
away, and remained without power of motion.

“Be not afraid, daughters of Jerusalem,” said one of
the angels, speaking to us in the Hebrew tongue; “He
whom ye seek, liveth—and dieth no more! He is risen
from the tomb, which could not hold him but through his
consent; for Jesus is Lord of Life, and Victor over Death
and Hell, forevermore! Go your way, and tell his disciples
that he awaits them at Nazareth, at the house of
Mary, his mother, by the sea-side.”

The angels then vanished from our sight; and at the
same moment John and Peter came running, and seeing
the stone rolled away, John stooped down, and looked in,
and said that he saw the linen clothes in which the body
of Jesus had been wrapped, lying folded together, and also
the napkin which had been bound about his head. Peter

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now coming up, breathless with eagerness and haste, no
sooner saw the tomb open, than he went boldly in, and
carefully examined all for himself. He then called to
John, who also went in, and both were convinced that their
Lord had indeed risen from the dead; and when we made
known to them what the angels had said to us, that Jesus
would go before, and meet them in Galilee, they rejoiced
greatly, and shortly afterwards departed, to hasten into
Galilee, no longer doubting, but believing. I also returned
with them, to convey the news to Mary, the mother of
Jesus, who had not left the house, and scarcely her bed,
in her great sorrow, since the day of the crucifixion.
Mary of Bethany, however, remained, lingering near the
tomb, hoping that Jesus had not yet left the garden, and
that she might once more behold him.

Seated upon the steps of the tomb, weeping for joy at
his resurrection, and wishing once more to behold him,
she heard a footstep behind her, and, turning round, saw a
man standing near her. It was Jesus himself, and kneeling,
she was about to clasp his feet, when he said to her:

“Touch me not, Mary, I am not yet ascended to my
Father. But go and tell Lazarus, and my brethren, and
my mother, that I ascend, ere many days, unto my Father
and your Father, and unto my God and your God.”

Jesus then vanished out of her sight; and she came
and told all these things to us, and to the disciples; and
we all, once more, believed that Jesus was Messias and
Christ, the immortal Son of the Blessed. Such joy as
filled the bosoms of his friends was never before experienced
by human beings. Our happiness and exultation
now were in proportion to our depression before his
resurrection.

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But what pen can describe, my dear father, the amazement
and consternation of Caiaphas, and the chief priests,
and the rest of his enemies! The soldiers who had kept
guard of the sepulchre had entered the city by different
ways, and spread the report of the mighty miracle of the
resurrection through every principal street in Jerusalem,
as they fled through it.

Caiaphas hearing the uproar, sprang from his couch to
inquire the cause of it, and on being assured by his servants,
“Jesus has burst his tomb and risen alive from
the dead!” he quaked, and became deadly pale. But he
soon rallied, and sending for two or three of the soldiers,
who were describing vividly what they had witnessed to a
large concourse in the street, he questioned them closely
upon the facts. The soldiers' testimony agreed together,
and could not be gainsayed.

When Pilate received the account from the Centurion of
the guard, he said:

“We have crucified a God, as I believed! Henceforth
I am accursed!” and leaving his Hall of Judgment, he
went and shut himself up in his own room, which he has
not since left. But men say he neither eats nor sleeps,
and that a dread fit of gloom has settled upon his soul.

Caiaphas and the priests in the meanwhile assembled
together in full sanhedrim, and hearing the testimony of
the Centurion, were convinced that the fact could not be
concealed of Jesus' resurrection.

“Who had seen him alive?” demanded the High-Priest.

“I have seen him, my lord,” answered the Centurion,—
“I saw his pierced feet and hands as he walked past
me; and the morning breeze blew aside his mantle and
exposed to my eyes the open wound made by the spear of

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my soldier Philippus. He was alive, and in full strength
of limb!”

“Thou sawest a vision, Roman,” answered Caiaphas.
“Come then aside with us, and let us talk with thee.”

In a few minutes afterwards the Centurion left the
court of the High-Priest's palace followd by a Gibeonitish
slave, bearing after him a vase of Persian gold. He has
told every one since that he must have seen a spirit, for
that the disciples of Jesus came by night and stole away
the body of their master, while they slept, overcome with
watching. His soldiers have also been bribed to tell the
same tale.

Such is the false version that now goes about the city,
my dear father; but there are few that give it credence,
even of our enemies. As Æmilius, who is filled with great
joy at the resurrection of Jesus, to-day very justly says:

“If these soldiers slept on guard, they merited death
therefor by the military laws of the empire. If, while
sleeping, their charge—the dead body of Jesus—was
taken away, they deserve death for failing to prevent it.
Why then are they not placed under arrest by Pilate's
orders, if this story be true? Because Pilate well knows
that it is not true! He knows, because he has privately
examined many of the soldiers, that Jesus did burst his
tomb, and that angels rolled away the stone without
breaking his seals, which could not have been left unmarred,
but by a miracle. He knows that Jesus has arisen—
for it is believed that he has also beheld him; at least
such is the rumor of the Pretorium. It was the form of
Jesus visible before him, doubtless, that drove him in such
amazement from his Hall to his secret-chamber; for it
was remarked that he started, turned deadly pale, and

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essayed to address the invisible space before him, as if he
saw a spirit. Therefore his soldiers are not molested—
and their exemption from arrest, is proof that the body of
Jesus was not stolen away while they slept. Besides, if
they were asleep, these soldiers, how could they tell that
it was stolen away, and declare the persons who did it?”

This is the unanswerable reasoning of the Prefect AEmilius;
and thus you see, dear father, that Caiaphas can
gain little by his briberies and diligently circulated falsehood.
That Jesus of Nazareth is alive from the dead is
true, and if I had not seen him, the evidence is complete
enough to convince me of the fact.

Besides the facts which I have stated, is the increasing
testimony of the thousands, who, to-day, have gone out
of the city to see the sepulchre where he was laid. They
say, both enemies of Jesus as well as our friends, that it
was impossible for the door to have been opened by any
human being, not by Pilate himself, without marring the
seals. They also assert that to remove the stone by night,
which would require four men, and to bear forth the body,
would have been impossible if the guard had been present;
and if they had been asleep, they must have awakened
them with the heavy noise made by rolling the massive
door along the hollow pavement outside the sepulchre.

“If,” say the common people, “the watch slept, why
does not the Procurator put them to death?”

This question remains unanswered, and the watch go
about the streets unharmed! My dear father, remember
no more my unbelief, but with me, believe in Jesus, that
He is the Son of God, the Saviour of Israel, the immortal
Christ of the Prophets.

p612-472

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