xxiii. 55), laid it in the receptacle[599], and with the utmost despatch, _for the Sabbath was drawing on_ (Lk. xxiii. 54), rolled a great stone to the entrance, and departed. Thus He, who all His life long had been the poorest of the poor, made _His grave with the rich_ (Is. liii. 9), and received the anointing of the great ones of the earth. But though the outward temple of His body had been _destroyed_, the Pharisees and chief-priests could not forget the mysterious saying of His that in _three days He would raise it up_, and probably were not altogether unaware of the more direct assertions He had made to His Apostles respecting the same subject[600]. These words now recurred to them with such alarming force that on the morning after the Crucifixion, though it was their great Paschal Sabbath, they met together, and repairing to the residence of Pilate, informed him of what _that Deceiver_ had said, and requested that the sepulchre might be made secure till the third day, lest His disciples should come and steal Him away, and give out that He had risen (Mtt. xxvii. 63, 64). With the curtness of one who felt himself fatigued and wearied out, the Procurator replied, _Ye have_, or rather, _Take[601] a watch, and make it secure as ye know how_. Accordingly with the guard thus deputed they went their way, sealed[602] the stone at the entrance of the sepulchre with their official seal in the presence of the soldiers, and then consigned to them the duty of watching the tomb of the Holy One. Though both Joseph of Arimathæa and Nicodemus had assisted in embalming the Body of the Saviour, it had necessarily been done in haste, and the women who had witnessed the entombment resolved to complete it, and on the evening of the Crucifixion had prepared spices and ointments for that purpose (Lk. xxiii. 56). With these, then, early in the morning of the first day of the week, while it was yet dark (Jn. xx. 1), Mary Magdalene[603], Mary the Mother of James, and Salome (Mk. xvi. 1), set out for the sepulchre, their thoughts occupied on the way with the natural question _who would roll away the great stone_[604] they had seen fitted into its appointed place (Mk. xvi. 3). While they were thus musing, and, as it would seem, were as yet some distance from the sepulchre, the earth quaked beneath their feet with a mighty convulsion (Mtt. xxviii. 2), and an angel descended and rolled away the stone and sat upon it; his countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow, and before him the Roman sentinels fell prostrate for fear, _and became as dead men_ (Mtt. xxviii. 3, 4). Bewildered by the sudden earthquake, the women advanced nearer, and beheld the stone rolled away from the tomb (Mk. xvi. 4; Lk. xxiv. 2). Summoning courage two of them thereupon entered in (Lk. xxiv. 3), and became assured of the fact that the tomb was empty, that the Holy Body they had seen securely placed therein, was there no longer.