Great indeed was the wilful unbelief of the Jews, if they could for one moment believe such an absurd story, as the Priests and elders had bribed the soldiers to tell. Amongst the Romans, death was the punishment for any soldier who went to sleep whilst upon guard: yet, in spite of this, men were required to believe, that sixty soldiers, and their commander, were all so fast asleep, that the noise which must have been made by moving the stone, did not even awake one of them. Besides, if they had all been asleep, how could they have known that the disciples had been there? The Chief Priests and elders knew that this story was false; and we may be quite sure that Pilate and those in authority did not believe it, or the soldiers would not have escaped punishment: but the Romans did not care what the Jews believed on the subject: and the soldiers, being heathens, and therefore careless about speaking the truth, took the money offered by the Council, and in return told what they knew to be a lie. Even up to this day, the Jews, of whom there are many thousands scattered in different parts of the world, believe the story invented by the Chief Priests; and instead of acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, still look for Christ's coming. It seems to us quite impossible that any one should disbelieve in Jesus Christ being the promised Messiah; but unhappily it is so. Let us pray to God that He will take from the Jews all blindness and hardness of heart, and bring them into the Christian Church. Now let us return in thought to the sepulchre, where, after the departure of Mary Magdalene, and of the other Mary and Salome, another party of women arrived. These were the women which came with Him from Galilee, and who, after seeing where the body of Jesus was laid, went away immediately to prepare spices and ointments, and then rested on the sabbath day. "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others," that is, some other women came, "with them." These women had had a longer way to come than Mary Magdalene and her companions, and therefore, although they set out as soon as the Sabbath was past, they did not reach the sepulchre until some time after them: although it was still early. "And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre." This circumstance would naturally cause them no surprise, as they would conclude that the disciples or others had reached the sepulchre before them, and were already engaged in the work of embalming the body, in which they were come to assist.