Deliverance from the Cross — Page 60
lay within a narrow compass; and heat of climate could not have been very oppressive in Jerusalem at the vernal equinox to a native of the country; more especially when it is considered that, during the last three hours of his life, from the sixth to the ninth hour, the sun was obscured, and that in the much hotter climate of Central Africa crucified persons usually live three days on the cross'. " 'Of the death of Christ we would have no evidence considering how difficult it is to establish the fact of death in many cases but for the very definite statement found in a single Gospel: For after six hours of crucifixion, the two thieves were found to be still alive. The death of Christ is attributed to his being speared by a soldier, according to the fourth Gospel; but it is remarkable that nothing about this is found in the other three detailed accounts of the crucifixion. If we follow it, it becomes possible to suppose that some friends may have revived him in the tomb and may have facilitated his escape - leaving the cerements folded in the sepulchre so that a natural interpretation is afforded of his being afterwards seen at dusk on the road to Emmaus and at dusk in a house of Jerusalem, as well as, also at dusk on the shores of the Lake Tiberias somewhat later'. 10 There is the theory of those who assert that our Lord 9 Stroud, William, On the Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, pp. 123-124. 10 Forlong, James, Faiths of Men, Vol. I, pp. 442-443 60