11. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

12. And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

13. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

14. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

15. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

been given to him — if it had really been given to Christ to have life in himself the miracle would have been for a resurrection not to come. Rev. Henry W. Clark.

III. MARY SEES JESUS, vs. 11-18. "Mary Magdalene had the most beautiful experience of all." Margaret E. Sangster. "She who had been the first to repair to the sepulchre and is so inconsolable in her grief is the first to behold the form of her risen Lord (compare Mark 16:9). Such an honor would surely have been assigned by the evangelists to the mother of their Lord, or to one of the leading apostles, had they been inventing, instead of recording, history." Century Bible.

11. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping. Some think that she remained behind after Peter and John left; others that she was not able to keep up with them, and reached the tomb after they had departed. And as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre. "She wept inconsolably because the body was no longer in the grave. She did not realize that if the body had been there that morning she would have had real cause for weeping. The things which we regard as causes of sorrow, if we could see them as God sees them, would appear to be secrets of joy. The empty grave, if only Mary had understood it, was the attestation of the Messiahship of Jesus." -J. R. Miller.

12. And seeth two angels in white. Doubtless dazzling, and white as snow, like the angels that rolled away the stone from the tomb. Angels watched over the birth of Jesus, ministered to him after his temptation and in Gethsemane, and now they attend his resurrection. "Since Christ lay in the tomb the sleeping places of his followers are all brightened. They are little beds in which the bodies of the saints rest until he who has the key to their graves shall come to call them again. If we had eyes to see, no doubt, as we lay our loved ones away, we should see angels sitting at the head and the feet of each waiting one, keeping their sacred watch." -J. R. Miller. "So absorbing is Mary's grief that the vision of angels does not astonish her." Expositor's Bible.

13. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? That question needs to be pressed upon every mourning soul; the attempt to find a just reason for our tears would often stay them. She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. "What could angel voices do for her, who longed to hear one voice only? What were the griefs of others in comparison with hers? In an especial sense Jesus was hers! My Lord! Had he not cast out from her seven devils?" — F. B. Meyer.

14. She turned herself back. Jesus may have made some slight movement to call her attention. Chrysostom imagined beautifully that she saw the presence of Jesus mirrored, as it were, in the loving, reverent faces of the angels, and turned to see what they were beholding. And saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Note again how honest is John. If he had been writing fiction, he would have made the risen Lord flaming in splendor, and instantly recognizable. The sight of him that morning was evidently not born of Mary's expectancy. She did not recognize him, partly because his appearance was changed, and partly because her eyes were probably full of tears.

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15. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? The first recorded words of the risen Christ, fitly addressed to a sorrowful and longing heart." Century

16. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

Bible. Note that Jesus echoes the very question of the angels. Whom seekest thou? "That she was searching for some one she had lost was obvious from her tears and demeanor. But not even the voice of Jesus sounds familiar.". Expositor's Greek Testament. She, supposing him to be the gardener, the man she would most naturally see in those grounds so early in the morning. Saith unto him, Sir, if thou have (R. V., " hast ") borne him hence. "Him," Mary says, not naming Jesus.

Risen Lord and Mary Magdalene.

Her mind was so full of him that it did not occur to her that any one could be thinking of any one else. "No other name under heaven'

that is true of every sincere Christian. "Her answer shows that she thought it possible that it had been found inconvenient to have the body of Jesus in that tomb and that it had been removed to some other place of sepulture. In that case she will gladly relieve them of the encumbrance. It is

16. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. This was no gardener, calling her by name; and what a wealth of love Jesus put into the word! It is thus he calls the name of each one of us. She turned herself. She had turned before to see Jesus, but, concluding swiftly that he was only the gardener, she had turned back again to face the tomb and the angels. And saith unto him (R. V. adds, "in Hebrew"), Rabboni, which is to say, Master (R. V., margin, "or, Teacher"). Rabboni means my Rabbi, a word similar to the French Monsieur, my Lord. Doubtless Christ used Greek sometimes, as in talking to Pilate, but his customary speech seems to have been Aramaic, the Hebrew of the common people. At once she clasps about his feet, having her heart as near to his heart as her hands were to his feet." Baxter.

17. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not (R. V., margin," or, Take not hold on me"). “The verb, primarily, means to fasten to. Hence it implies here, not a mere momentary touch, but a clinging to. Mary thought that the old relations between her Lord and herself were to be renewed; that the old intercourse, by means of sight, sound, and touch, would go on as before. Christ says, the time for this kind of intercourse is over. Henceforth your communion with me will be by faith through the Spirit. This communion will become possible through my ascending to the Father.'" "

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Professor Marvin R. Vincent. For I am not yet ascended to my Father. The R. V. translates it accurately," the Father," the Father of all men, "my Father and your Father," as Christ goes on to say. Now that Christ is leaving his disciples, he wishes them to realize as vividly as possible the Fatherhood of God, to illustrate which was his reason for coming to earth. He had just died on the cross for the sins of men as the supreme evidence of the Father's love for all men. "Christ's departure and herein is the sweetness and the power of his saying - was to give him back to Mary in a nearer, dearer, and closer manner than she had dreamed of when hope was highest." Sir W. Robertson Nicoll. But go to my brethren. We have had "his brethren " before in this Gospel (John 7 : 3, 5, 10), but not my brethren." Our Lord would emphasize his love in every way. Compare Matt. 28: 10. Note that though Mary was forbidden to enjoy Christ's presence in the old way, she was given the chance to show her love for him in the great way of prompt obedience; and we have the same chance every day. "It is often more acceptable to the heart of Christ for us to be carrying comfort and good cheer to those who are perplexed and in trouble and need than to be embracing Christ on our knees in prayer in our own homes.". Louis Albert Banks, D.D. I ascend. "The present tense is used, not in the sense of the near future, but implying that he had already entered upon that new stage of being which the actual ascension formally inaugurated. The resurrection was really the beginning of the ascension."- Vincent. Unto my Father and your Father. "Even when calling his disciples my brethren (in token of his continued fellowship with humanity: compare Heb. 2: 11), he will not efface the essential distinction between his own unique relation to his God and Father and that of his disciples (compare Rom. 8: 29)."- Century Bible.

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18. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples. We read in Mark 16:9-11 how Mary did her happy errand, and that the disciples did not believe her. Perhaps even John and Peter failed to believe, so

Hofmann.

7. To seven disciples fishing in the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-13). The last of April or the first of May. 8. To the eleven disciples on a mount in Galilee (Matt. 28: 16-20). Early in May.

9. To more than five hundred brethren at once, in Galilee (1 Cor. 15:6). Early in May.

10. To James alone, probably in Jerusalem (1 Cor. 15: 7). May.

II. To the eleven apostles at his ascension from the Mount of Olives (Luke 24 50, 51; Acts 1:6-12). Thursday, May 18, A.D. 30.

Note the naturalness of these appearances, so simple and homelike, with only so much of the supernatural as was inevitable.

Note also that all the appearances were to Christ's disciples, through whom henceforth he was to do his work.

Note (3) that the appearances were in great variety of modes and places and to a

great variety of persons and to large numbers, thus eliminating any doubt regarding Christ's resurrection.

Note (4) that the appearances become less frequent as the forty days go by, as if to wean the disciples from their Lord.

And note (5) that the appearances come to a decisive close in the ascension, lest the lives of the disciples should be spent merely in looking for Christ, and they should not learn to rely on themselves.

Christ's Resurrection and Ours.

"Christ's resurrection gives us a certified Christianity, an accredited salvation. It is the pivotal fact of Christianity. The founders of other religions — Confucius, Zoroaster, Brahma, Mohammed-have died; but where is the evidence that they ever rose from the dead? It is the resurrection of Jesus which is the absolutely unique fact of Christianity, the demonstration to the believer of its absolute certainty." George Dana Boardman.

"It is from the empty grave that the true song of hope has sounded. Standing by that risen Man of Nazareth, each one putting trust in him may say with reverence and holy fear, and yet with certainty and absolute boldness, ‘He has won his victories, and evil is doomed.' Therefore at last the victory of souls trusting in him must also be won. The glories of the resurrection demonstrate forever the absolute and final victory of the Man of Nazareth over every form and force of evil.” — G. Campbell Morgan.

"The condition of all nobleness and all growth upwards is that we shall die daily, and live a life that has sprung victorious from the death of self."- Alexander Maclaren.

"The ideas of Jesus and death are as incongruous as the ideas of a Rothschild and abject poverty; as the ideas of Sir Isaac Newton and crass ignorance; as the ideas of Beethoven and insensibility to musical harmonies." George E. Horr, D.D.

"We shall never know the real joy of service until we grasp this truth of the living, present, dominant Christ.” — David James Burrell, D.D.

"With Jesus' resurrection an entirely new prospect is opened to humanity. With him its head, it finds itself in a new relation to God. In his person it has the pledge for the forgiveness of its sin. In him it sees the creative will of God most gloriously realized, and that, by it, the final victory over death is also guaranteed.” Professor Eduard Riggenbach.

"Christ not only is our life, but he is also our resurrection. Immediately beyond the valley of the shadow there rise the hills of light. One is there who, if we hear his voice, will take our hand at once, and lead us quickly through the shadow into the light, and up the mount of God in an undelayed progress of power, purity, and peace, in a full experience of the power of his resurrection." - James M. Whiton.

"My bark is wafted on the strand

By breath divine,

And on the helm there rests a hand

Other than mine.

"One who was known in storms to sail

I have on board;

Above the roaring of the gale

I have my Lord.

"He holds me when the billows smite;

I shall not fall.

If sharp, 'tis short; if long, 'tis light
He tempers all.

"Safe to the land! safe to the land!

The end is this,

And then with him go hand in hand
Far into bliss."

LESSON XIII. June 24.

REVIEW. THE PURPOSE OF JOHN'S GOSPEL.

READ John 21:15-25.

GOLDEN TEXT. These are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that believing ye may have life in his name. JOHN 20:31.

A variety of review methods is suggested, that each teacher may select the form of review that is best adapted to the age and ability of his class. Sometimes two reviews may be combined in one, or other modifications may be made.

I. GREAT-VERSES REVIEW.

To prepare this review the teacher will select from all the lessons of the quarter the most memorable and beautiful verses, and will copy each on a piece of cardboard. Ask the pupils to go over the lessons of the quarter with an eye to the best verses, so as to be able, on seeing them, to state on what occasion each was spoken, and tell something further about it. In the recitation the teacher will place his pieces of cardboard on a table face downward, and each pupil in turn will choose a card, read the verse written on it, and give his information concerning the verse, answering whatever questions the teacher may ask in addition. The following verses from the first lesson of the quarter will illustrate the selections that may be made : "We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day." "The night cometh, when no man can work." 66 I am the light of the world." "He is of age; he shall speak for himself." "One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." "If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" is time, it will be well to go over the verses once more, or at least part of them.

II. ONE-MINUTE TALKS.

If there

For this review divide the lessons among the members of the class, assigning some lessons more than once if you have more than twelve pupils, and, if you have fewer than twelve, assigning two lessons to some pupils. Each member of the class is to prepare a one-minute talk on the lesson assigned him. He may write it out, but he is to speak it and not read it. He should stand before the class when he speaks. If you have not a classroom, get the class off by itself if possible. After all the oneminute talks have been given, occupy the rest of the time in asking questions on points that have not been brought out in the talks.

III. A PRESENT-DAY REVIEW.

The adult classes will find this form of review profitable. Each lesson is to be discussed in its modern aspects. Divide the lessons among the members of the class, asking each to speak on one and only one present-day theme closely allied to the

lesson assigned him. If he wants a suggestion, he may be given a topic from the list below:

Lesson I.

Lesson II.

Lesson III.

Lesson IV.
Lesson V.
Lesson VI.
Lesson VII.
Lesson VIII.

Lesson IX.
Lesson X.
Lesson XI.
Lesson XII.

Christian Aid to the Blind To-day.

Modern Wonders of Healing.

The Modern Church as a Shepherd.

Do Modern Christians Know How to Give?
How to Make Christ Supreme in National Life.
Modern Ambition and Its Cure.

How All the World's Good Springs from Christ.
Progress of the Temperance Reform.

The Holy Spirit in the Life of To-day.

How Christ Is Now Betrayed and Denied.
Proof of the Present Power of the Cross.
Reasons Why Men To-day Believe in Immortality.