AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER. 173 



first hours of the infliction was not, necessarily, extreme ; nor need 

 any serious physical symptoms at once arise from the wounds 

 made by the nails in the hands and feet, supposing they were 

 nailed, which was not invariably the case. When exhaustion set 

 in, and hunger, thirst, and nervous irritation had done their work, 

 the agony of the sufferer must have been terrible ; and the more 

 terrible that, in the absence of any effectual disturbance of the 

 machinery of physical life, it might be prolonged for many hours, 

 or even days. Temperate, strong men, such as the ordinary Gali- 

 lean peasants were, might live for several days on the cross. It 

 is necessary to bear these facts in mind when we read the account 

 contained in the fifteenth chapter of the second Gospel. 



Jesus was crucified at the third hour (xv, 25), and the narrative 

 seems to imply that he died immediately after the ninth hour (v. 

 34). In this case, he would have been crucified only six hours ; 

 and the time spent on the cross can not have been much longer, 

 because Joseph of Arimathaea must have gone to Pilate, made his 

 preparations, and deposited the body in the rock-cut tomb before 

 sunset, which, at that time of the year, was about the twelfth 

 hour. That any one should die after only six hours' crucifixion 

 could not have been at all in accordance with Pilate's large 

 experience in the effects of that method of punishment. It, there- 

 fore, quite agrees with what might be expected if Pilate " mar- 

 veled if he were already dead," and required to be satisfied on this 

 point by the testimony of the Roman officer who was in command 

 of the execution party. Those who have paid attention to the ex- 

 traordinarily difficult question, What are the indisputable signs 

 of death ? — will be able to estimate the value of the opinion of a 

 rough soldier on such a subject ; even if his report to the procu- 

 rator were in no wise affected by the fact that the friend of Jesus, 

 who anxiously awaited his answer, was a man of influence and of 

 wealth. 



The inanimate body, wrapped in linen, was deposited in a spa- 

 cious,* cool, rock chamber, the entrance of which was closed, not 

 by a well-fitting door, but by a stone rolled against the opening, 

 which would of course allow free passage of air. A little more 

 than thirty-six hours afterward (Friday 6 P. M., to Sunday 6 A. m., 

 or a little after) three women visit the tomb and find it empty. 

 And they are told by a young man " arrayed in a white robe " that 

 Jesus is gone to his native country of Galilee, and that the disci- 

 ples and Peter will find him there. 



Thus it stands, plainly recorded, in the oldest tradition that, 

 for any evidence to the contrary, the sepulchre may have been 

 vacated at any time during the Friday or Saturday nights. If it 



* Spacious, because a young man could sit in it " on the right side " (xv, 5), and there- 

 fore with plenty of room to spare. 



