XXIV.  If you are a Simon of Cyrene,77    Mark xv. 21. take up the Cross and follow.  If you are crucified with Him as a robber,78    Luke xxiii. 42. acknowledge God as a penitent robber.  If even He was numbered among the transgressors79    Isa. liii. 12. for you and your sin, do you become law-abiding for His sake.  Worship Him Who was hanged for you, even if you yourself are hanging; make some gain even from your wickedness; purchase salvation by your death; enter with Jesus into Paradise,80    Luke xxiii. 43. so that you may learn from what you have fallen.81    Rev. ii. 5.  Contemplate the glories that are there; let the murderer die outside with his blasphemies; and if you be a Joseph of Arimathæa,82    Luke xxiii. 52. beg the Body from him that crucified Him, make thine own that which cleanses the world.83    1 John i. 7.  If you be a Nicodemus, the worshipper of God by night, bury Him with spices.84    John xix. 39.  If you be a Mary, or another Mary, or a Salome, or a Joanna, weep in the early morning.  Be first to see the stone taken away,85    Ib. xx. 11, etc. and perhaps you will see the Angels and Jesus Himself.  Say something; hear His Voice.  If He say to you, Touch Me not,86    Ib. xxi. 17. stand afar off; reverence the Word, but grieve not; for He knoweth those to whom He appeareth first.  Keep the feast of the Resurrection; come to the aid of Eve who was first to fall, of Her who first embraced the Christ, and made Him known to the disciples.  Be a Peter or a John; hasten to the Sepulchre, running together, running against one another, vying in the noble race.87    Ib. xx. 3, 4.  And even if you be beaten in speed, win the victory of zeal; not Looking into the tomb, but Going in.  And if, like a Thomas, you were left out when the disciples were assembled to whom Christ shews Himself, when you do see Him be not faithless;88    Ib. xx. 25. and if you do not believe, then believe those who tell you; and if you cannot believe them either, then have confidence in the print of the nails.  If He descend into Hell,89    1 Pet. iii. 19. descend with Him.  Learn to know the mysteries of Christ there also, what is the providential purpose of the twofold descent, to save all men absolutely by His manifestation, or there too only them that believe.

ΚΔʹ. Ἂν Σίμων ἦς Κυρηναῖος, τὸν σταυρὸν ἆρον, καὶ ἀκολούθησον. Ἂν συσταυρωθῇς ὡς λῃστὴς, ὡς εὐγνώμων τὸν Θεὸν γνώρισον: εἰ κἀκεῖνος μετὰ ἀνόμων ἐλογίσθη διὰ σὲ καὶ τὴν σὴν ἁμαρτίαν, σὺ γενοῦ δι' ἐκεῖνον ἔννομος. Προσκύνησον τὸν διὰ σὲ κρεμασθέντα, καὶ κρεμάμενος: κέρδανόν τι καὶ παρὰ τῆς κακίας: ὤμνησαι τῷ θανάτῳ τὴν σωτηρίαν: εἰς τὸν παράδεισον εἴσελθε μετὰ Ἰησοῦ, ὥστε μαθεῖν ὧν ἐκπέπτωκας: Τὰ ἐκεῖ κάλλη θεώρησον: τὸν γογγυστὴν ἄφες ἀποθανεῖν ἔξω, μετὰ τῆς βλασφημίας. Κἂν Ἰωσὴφ ᾖς ὁ ἀπὸ Ἀριμαθαίας, αἴτησαι τὸ σῶμα παρὰ τοῦ σταυροῦντος: σὸν γενέσθω τὸ τοῦ κόσμου καθάρσιον. Κἂν Νικόδημος ᾖς, ὁ νυκτερινὸς θεοσεβὴς, μύροις αὐτὸν ἐνταφίασον. Κἂν Μαρία τις ᾖς, κἂν ἡ ἄλλη Μαρία, κἂν Σαλώμη, κἂν Ἰωάννα, δάκρυσον ὀρθρία. Ἴδε πρώτη τὸν λίθον ἡρμένον, τυχὸν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους, καὶ Ἰησοῦν αὐτόν. Φθέγξαι τι: φωνῆς ἄκουσον. Ἂν ἀκούσῃς. Μή μου ἅπτου, πόῤῥω στῆθι, σεβάσθητι τὸν Λόγον, ἀλλὰ μὴ λυπηθῇς. Οἶδε γὰρ οἷς ὀφθῇ πρῶτον. Ἐγκαίνισον τὴν ἀνάστασιν: τῇ Εὔᾳ βοήθησον, τῇ πρώτῃ πεσούσῃ, τῇ πρώτῃ Τριστὸν ἀσπάσασθαι, καὶ γνωρίσαι τοῖς μαθηταῖς. Γενοῦ Πέτρος, ἢ Ἰωάννης: ἐπὶ τὸν τάφον ἐπείχθητι, ἀντιτρέχων, συντρέχων, τὴν καλὴν ἅμιλλαν ἁμιλλώμενος. Κἂν προληφθῇς τῷ τάχει, τῇ σπουδῇ νίκησον μὴ παρακύψας εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον, ἀλλ' ἔνδον γενόμενος. Κἂν ὡς Θωμᾶς ἀπολειφθῇς, τῶν μαθητῶν συνηγμένων, οἷς Χριστὸς ἐμφανίζεται, ὅταν ἴδῃς, μὴ ἀπιστήσῃς: κἂν ἀπιστήσῃς, τοῖς λέγουσι πίστευσον: εἰ δὲ μηδὲ τούτοις, τοῖς τύποις τῶν ἥλων πιστώθητι. Ἂν εἰς ᾅδου κατίῃ, συγκάτελθε. Γνῶθι καὶ τὰ ἐκεῖσε τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστήρια, τίς ἡ οἰκονομία τῆς διπλῆς καταβάσεως, τίς ὁ λόγος: ἁπλῶς σώζει πάντας ἐπιφανεὶς, ἢ κακεῖ τοὺς πιστεύοντας.