And hence we say, when the third day was ushered in there was no one of all his disciples at the sepulchre to welcome him. Those who loved him most, came but to embalm his body. Mary Magdalene beheld _not_ her risen Saviour, but an empty tomb; and her hurried tidings were _not_ that he is risen, but, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him.” When Jesus even speaks to her, she at first supposes him to be the gardener, and says, “If thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.” Peter and John beheld no vision, but only “the linen clothes lying, and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but rolled up in a place by itself.” The other women do not see Jesus until after they have found that the sepulchre is empty, and have been told by the angels, “He is risen, even as he said: COME SEE THE PLACE WHERE[18] THE LORD LAY.” The two disciples, some hours after, had heard, not that he had been _seen_, but that certain women who were early at the tomb found not his body, and were told by angels that he was alive; and that the absence of the body had been confirmed by those of their company who visited the tomb. And finally, the Apostles, instead of _expecting_ to see him, refused to believe upon the testimony of the women, and were only convinced by the evidence of their own senses. [1] Taylor on the Gospel Miracles (1881), p. 17. [2] Id., p. 25. [3] “We do not say a miracle is impossible; we say there has been no instance, up to this time, of a proved miracle.”—Renan’s Life of Jesus, etc., p. 57.