The evening drew nigh. One of the disciples of Jesus, a wealthy man by the name of Joseph, from Arimathea, being a man of high position, went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Pilate, marvelling that he was so soon dead, granted his request. Nicodemus also, the timid man who visited Jesus by night, and once during his career ventured to speak a cautious word in his favor, now came by night, with a hundred-pound weight of myrrh and aloes, to embalm the dead body of one whom he had not the moral courage to confess when that living one was struggling against his foes. Joseph took the body of Jesus from the cross, wrapped it in a linen robe, and deposited it in a newly-constructed tomb of his own which he had hewn out of a solid rock. The door of the tomb was closed by a heavy stone. Several women, the friends of Jesus, followed his remains to the sepulchre. This was Friday, called the “preparation-day,” because, on that day, the Jews prepared for the solemn rest of the sabbath. The next morning, the morning of the sabbath, the chief priests and Pharisees, remembering that Jesus had declared that he would rise again on the third day, held a council, and called upon Pilate, requesting him to appoint a sure guard at the tomb until after the third day, “lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead.”[72] Pilate authorized them to make the watch as sure as they could, employing a guard of Roman soldiers which had been placed at the command of the Jewish rulers. A detachment of these soldiers was marched to the tomb to guard it, and in some way sealing the stone at the door with the public signet of the Sanhedrim. Thus every thing was done which caution could suggest to prevent any deceit; and these precautions established beyond all possibility of doubt the reality of the resurrection. The night of Friday, the sabbath, and the night succeeding the sabbath, passed in quiet. Early in the morning of the third day (which was the first day of the week), “at the rising of the sun,” Mary Magdalene, and another Mary, the mother of James, came to the sepulchre. As they approached the closed door, there was a violent earthquake, which rolled back the stone which had closed the entrance. An angel, radiant with exceeding beauty and clothed in celestial robes, sat upon the stone. The guard fainted in excessive terror. The angel addressed the women, saying,―― “Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here; for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay.”[73] Entering the sepulchre, they saw an angel, in the form of a young man, sitting on the right side, also clothed in the white robe which is the emblematic garment of heaven. The angel repeated the declaration which had just been made by his companion, and added,――