1 Resurrection. Conclusion. Teacher. No, on Friday. Saturday was the Sabbath in those days. It was changed to Sunday afterwards. John. For what reason? Teacher. I will explain the reason presently. As I said before, he remained in the grave through the Sabbath; but very early on Sunday morning they came to the tomb, and found that the body was gone. There was an angel there, instead, who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. Samuel. I supposed that he was in the grave three days. Teacher. No, strictly speaking, not three full days. He rose from the dead on the third day after he was crucified, and on this account he is sometimes said to have been three days in the grave. Roger. Where did Christ go after he had risen ? Teacher. He appeared several times to his disciples at Jerusalem, and then directed the eleven to go to Galilee, where he said he would meet them. This you remember was where he had spent his early days. He saw them after this many times; gave them his parting instructions; directed them to go to Jerusalem, to wait there until they should receive power from heaven, and then to go forth and preach the gospel to all nations. At last, one day while they were with him, not far from Jerusalem, he bade them farewell, and ascended from the earth; a cloud received him, and they saw him no more. When the teacher had finished this account, he told the boys that it brought them to the end of the third period of Scripture History, and that although the hour was not quite spent, there would not be time to finish the next period that evening; and therefore he would not begin. Description of the Map. CONVERSATION VI. FOURTH PERIOD IN SACRED HISTORY. As the teacher unrolled a map similar to the one adjoining this page, at the next evening in which the boys were to meet, he told them that this map was a representation of those countries in which the events in the remaining portion of scripture history took place. Samuel, said he, can you tell any thing about this map? Samuel. This large sea running through the middle of the map, is, I should think, the Mediterranean Sea. John. But it is a great deal larger than the Mediterranean Sea was upon the other maps. Samuel. That is because on the other maps only a part of the sea is drawn; for those maps only represented the countries about this end of the map, (pointing to the Eastern part of it,) and therefore only this end was drawn. Teacher. Then this map represents the countries drawn upon the last maps, and a great deal more besides ? Samuel. Yes, Sir. This yellow spot, (pointing to the yellow spot East of the Mediterranean,) is Canaan; and here is the river Jordan and the Dead Sea. John. How small they are. Roger. Yes; because on this map they have only a little corner, but on the other they were spread over the whole paper. Teacher. Yes. This map must be made to take in a much larger region, because after the death of Christ the disciples travelled into many countries, and spread the Roman Empire. Map. Christian religion far around. I am going this evening to tell you how this was done, and this map shows the countries where the disciples travelled. Can you tell, John, whether they are generally to the Westward or the Eastward of where Christ lived and died? John. To the Westward. Teacher. And the events recorded in the Bible which took place before Christ, were they to the Eastward or Westward of Canaan ? Roger. To the Eastward. At least, it was East of Canaan where man was created, and where Abraham lived. Samuel. But the children of Israel remained several hundred years in Egypt, and that is South of Canaan. Teacher. Yes. But those Eastern countries had gradually declined; and others farther to the West had become populous and civilized, and had risen to power. You recollect I informed you at the last lesson, that the Romans had possession of Judea, in the time of Christ. All these countries upon this map, and many others farther West and North, were under the Roman power at this time. Roger, can you tell me where Rome is? Roger. (Pointing to the West side of the map.) Here it is in Italy. Teacher. Yes it was at this time a very great and splendid city, and all these countries were rich and populous, filled with towns and villages, all, however, under the Roman power. But we must begin with our history again. Samuel. We left off at the ascension of our Saviour. Teacher. Yes and do you remember his farewell directions to his followers? Samuel. He directed them to go to Jerusalem, and wait there some time, and then to go and preach the gospel to all the world. The gospel preached to the Jews. John. How could they preach to all the world? there were only twelve of them, and I should think it would be impossible for them ever to go over the whole world. Roger. There were only eleven. Judas betrayed Christ. Teacher. Christ did not consider himself as speaking only to the eleven; but to all his followers, to the end of time. They were but to begin the work. In obedience to his command, the eleven went to Jerusalem; and the first thing which they did was to choose one in the place of Judas. Then they remained waiting for the influences of the Holy Spirit, which Christ had promised. This at last came, and they immediately began to preach the gospel to all the multitudes at Jerusalem. Roger. What did they preach? Teacher. Peter seems to have been a chief speaker. He endeavored to convince the Jews, for they spoke only to Jews, that Jesus Christ who had just been crucified at Jerusalem, was the Saviour who had been promised in the Old Testament, and he called upon them to repent of their sins and believe in this Saviour. They spoke too in a great many languages, as the persons there were of many different nations; and as they had had no means of learning these languages themselves, the people who heard, knew that they were taught from God. Samuel. I thought you said that the people whom they preached to, were all Jews? Teacher. Yes they were Jews, but they had been settled in a great many different countries, and had thus learned these different languages, and forgotten their own. Samuel. This was on the day of Pentecost, was it not? 4 |