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"over and above all these things, to-day is the third day fince "these things were done" (another allufion to the words of the angels); and "to-day fome women of our company" aftonished us with an account of their having been early at the fepulchre, and, not finding the body of Jefus, having there been told by angels that he was riien from the dead. And fome of our companions, running immediately to the fepulchre, found the report of the women to be true; but him they faw not." The fufferings, and death, and refurrection, of Jefus, were the fubjects of their debates, foretold, as the angels bade them remember, out of the prophets, by Christ himself; and the scope of their inquiry was how to reconcile thefe events with the prophecies to which they were referred. Part of them they had feen accomplished in the fuffering and death of Chrift; and that ought to have affured them of the accomplishment of the other part: but either from not understanding, or from a backwardness in believing, all that the prophets had said, they ftopped thort of this conclufion, For this ignorance and backwardness Chrift reproves them; afks them whether (according to the prophets) Chrift ought not to have fuffered these things, and "to enter into his glory, i. e. to rife again; and then beginning << at Mofes and all the prophets, he expounds to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." The connexion is vifible; at the beginning of the chapter the Angels refer the Dif ciples, for the proof of the refurrection, to the prophets; and here, Chrift joining two of thofe Difciples on the road, is, by their difcourfe upon that fubject, led to explain thofe prophecies, and prove from them that the Meffiah was certainly rifen from the dead. And in the like manner is the remaining part of this chapter, to verfe the 46th, connected with this and the preceding. For these two Difciples returning to Jerufalem, relate to the Apofiles and the reft, whom they found gathered together, what had paffed between Chrift and them upon the road to Emmaus; and while they were fpeaking, Chrift himself appears; and, after having given them sensible proofs of his being rifen from the dead, reminds them, as the angel had done, of the words which he fpake unto them in Galilee, faying, "Thefe are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with 66 you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the "law of Mofes, and in the Prophets, and in the Palms, concern❝ing me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might "understand the Scriptures; and faid unto them, Thus it is writ“ten, and thus it behoved Chrift to suffer, and to rife from the dead the third day."

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The connexion and dependence of the feveral parts of this chapter upon each other, point out to us the reafon that induced St. Luke to relate the vifion of the two angels to Joanna and the other women; and at the fame time prove that vifion to be diftinct and different from thofe feen by the Marys; each of which had, in like manner, its feparate and peculiar reference to other facts, as will presently

be seen.

8. I fhall now proceed to confider the appearances of Chrift to the women on the day of his refurrection; which, like thofe of the angels, have also been confounded, and from the fame caufe, viz. from the want of attending with due care to the feveral circumstances, by which they are plainly diftinguished from each other. And, ft, I obferve, that these appearances of Chrift are so connected with the appearances of the angels, that these having been proved to be diftinct, it follows that thofe are diftinct alfo. 2dly, St. Mark exprefsly tells us, that Chrift appeared first to Mary Magdalene, which, according to all propriety of fpeech, implies that she was alone at the time of that appearance, as I have faid once before. But I think it best to set down the paffages themfelves, of St. John and St. Matthew, in which thefe appearances are related. John, chap. xx. ver. II. "But Mary food without, at the fepulchre, weeping; and as "fhe wept, fhe ftooped down, and looked into the fepulchre, and "feeth two angels in white, fitting, the one at the head, and the "other at the feet, where the body of Jefus had lain; and they fay "unto her, Woman, why weepeft thou?' She faith unto them, Be"cause they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they "have laid him.' And when the had faid thus, fhe turned herself "back, and faw Jefus ftanding, and knew not that it was Jefus. Je

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fus faith unto her, Woman why weepeft thou? Whom feekest "thou? She fuppofing him to be the gardener, faith unto him, Sir, "if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou haft laid him, " and I will take him away.' Jefus faith unto her, Mary!' She turned "herself, and faith unto him, Rabboni !' which is to say, 'Master.' "Jefus faith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended "unto my Father; but go to my brethren, and fay unto them, I "afcend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your. "God.' Mary Magdalene came and told the difciples that he had "feen the Lord, and that he had fpoken these things unto her." Matth. xxviii. ver. 9. And as they went to tell his difciples, behold, "Jefus met them, faying, All hail!' And they came and held him "by the feet, and worshipped him. Then faid Jefus unto them, "Be not afraid: go, tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and "there fhall they fee me."

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After having produced these two paffages, it would be wafting both time and words, to go about to prove the appearances therein mentioned to be different. Compare them, and you will find them difagree in every circumitance; in the place, the perfons, the actions, and the words; of which laft I muft obferve, that they refer to two different events, viz. the afcenfion of Chrift into heaven, and meeting his difciples in Galilee, of which they were prophecies; and by which they, and confequently thefe appearances of Chrift, were not long after verified, though difcredited at firft, and treated as idle

tales.

I have how gone over the feveral particulars of the hiftory of the refurrection, related in the Four Evangelifts, have examined them with all the attention I am capable of, and with a fincere defire of difco

vering and embracing the truth; and have, as I think, made out the following points: 1ft, That the women came at different times, and in different companies, to the fepulchre: 2dly, That there were feveral diftinct appearances of angels: 3dly, That the angels were not always vifible, but appeared and difappeared as they thought proper: 4thly, That thefe feveral facts were reported to the Apoftles at different times, and by different women: 5thly, That there were two diftinét appearances of Chrift to the women: and 6thly, That St. Peter was twice at the fepulchre. These points being once established, all the objections against this part of the Gofpel-history, as contradictory and inconfiftent, entirely vanish and come to nought. That very learned and ingenious men have been embarrassed by these objections is fome excufe for those who first started them, and those who have lately infifted upon them. Their having now received an anfwer (if that will be allowed), it is a clear proof that it was always poffible to answer them, even with a very moderate fhare of common fenfe and learning. The nature of the anfwer itfelf, which is founded upon the ufual, obvious, plain fenfe of the words, without putting any force, either upon the particular expreffions, or the general conftruction of the feveral paffages, is an evidence of what I now fay. So that I mult needs acknowledge, that its having been fo long miffed is matter of far greater furprise than its having been hit upon

now.

I fhall here beg leave to fubjoin a few obfervations of a very eminent and judicious perfon, to whofe infpection 1 fubmitted thefe papers, and in whofe approbation of them I have great reafon to pride myfelf. They are as follows:

"To prove the appearances at the fepulchre to be different, and "made to different perfons, two things concur.,

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"I. The feveral accounts, as given by the evangelists.

"II. The circumftances which attended the cafe.

"The first point is fully confidered; and of the fecond it is very juftly remarked, that the women having agreed to be early at the fepulchre, it fell out naturally, that fome came before others. Now there being at the place of meeting fomething to terrify them as "faft as they arrived, it accounts alio for their difperfion, and their "not meeting at all in one body. It may help likewife to ac"count for the manner of delivering their meffages to the Apostles; "supposing their meffages not delivered in the fame order, in point "of time, as the appearances happened. For the moft terrified might "be the lateft reporters, though they received their orders first. "Which obfervation is favoured by St. Mark's & Bo wo», neither 66 faid they any thing to any man.

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"The difficulty upon stating the appearances to be different, and "made to different perfons, arifes chiefly from Mary Magdalene being "mentioned prefent by every evangelift: but there feems to be this "reafon for it; fhe was at the head of the women and the chief of those "who attended our Lord, and followed him from Galilee; and "Mary Magdalene, and the women with her, denotes the women who

66 came

"came from Galilee, in the fame manner that the eleven denotes the "Apostles.

"Three Evangelifts fay exprefsly that many women were present "at the crucifixion. Had it been left to generally, we fhould have "had no account who they were. Therefore St. Matthew, xxvii. "56. adds, iv ais, among whom was Mary Magdalene, &c. So it " is again, Mark xv. 40. St. Luke having faid in general terms, that "the women, who followed from Galilee, were fpectators of the cru"cifixion, goes on with the account (xxiv. 1.) of their coming to "the fepulchre, feeing angels, and returning to tell the eleven, and "all the reft. But to give credit to their report, and to correct the "omiffion in not defcribing them before, he tells us who they were: "and how does he defcribe them? Why, by saying they were of the "company of Mary Magdalene: "Haar de Maydaann, &c. xxiv. 10. "which verfe admits, perhaps requires, a different reading from that "in our tranflation.

"Thefe confiderations feem to account for her being mentioned "in the transactions of these women, though not always present her"felf. St. Luke fays (xxiv. I.) that, befides the women from Gali"lee, there were other women there. To distinguish those who "make the report to the difciples, from the other women, he adds "the words already referred to*.

"It is remarkable, that St. Mark fays of the women, mentioned by him, no more than that they had bought spices to anoint the body;

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*The words of St. Luke deferve a particular examination; they run thus in the Greek: Καὶ ὑποςρέψασαι ἀπὸ τὸ μνημείς ἀπήγ[ειλαν ταῦτα πάνα τοῖς ἕνδεκα καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς λοῖποις. Ησαν δὲ ἡ Μαγδαληνή Μαρία και Ιωάννα και Μαρία Ιακωβε, καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ σὺν ἀυλαῖς, αἱ ἔλεγον πρὸς τὰς ἀποςόλες ταῦτα. In English," And turning back from the fepulchre, they told all "these things to the eleven, and to all the reft. Now they who related those things to the "Apoftles, were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and the reft "with them, i. e. of their company." As the account of the proceedings of the Galilean women begins in the foregoing chapter, and is carried on without any interruption to the 9th verfe of this chapter; fo that the feveral verbs occurring in this and the preceding verfes are all governed by the fame nominative cafe, viz. yuvaîxes; in ver. 55 of the 23d chapter, it is evident that raura wála, "all these things," must be taken to extend to all the particulars mentioned in that account, and cannot be confined to the transactions of the fepulchre only and the fame obfervation holds equally to the raura in the following verfe.. The utmost therefore that can be inferred from St. Luke's naming Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, is, that they were concerned in fome of thefe tranfactions, and joined in relating fome of these things to the Apoftles; which is true, for they "fat over "against the fepulchre," when Jofeph laid in it the body of the Lord, Matt. xxvii. 61. "And beheld where he was laid;" Mark xv. 47.They also had bought fweet fpices, "that they might come and anoint him;" Mark xvi. 1. and were the firft who came to the fepulchre that morning, and brought the first account of the body's being miffing; Matt and Mark. And though, by comparing the accounts given by the other Evangelifts with this of St. Luke, it appears that neither of thefe women went with Joanna and her company to the fepulchre; yet as they were Galilean women, and bore a part, and a principal part too, in what the women of Galilee were then chiefly employed about, namely, the care of embalming the body of Jefus, there is certainly no impropriety in St. Luke's naming them with Joanna and the reft, as he does in the end of the general and collective account he gives of what was reported and done by the Galilean women. Neither does his naming them appropriate to them any particular part of that general account, any more than his not naming them would have excluded them from their fhare of thofe tranfactions, and the report then made to the Apoftles. In this cafe they would have been included in the general terms of Galilean women; as, by being named, they are diftinguished and marked as the most eminent perfons and leaders of that company of women who followed Jefus from Galilee, &c.

body; enough to fhew with what intent they went to the tomb:"that they had any fpices with them, he does not fay. But St. Luke "fays of thofe he mentions, that they actually brought with them "the fpices; and not only fo, but that they had prepared them; that "is, made them fit for the ufe intended. The feveral drugs were "bought fingly, each by itself at the shop, and were neceffarily to be "mixed, or meited together for ufe: and I imagine that, though all "the women joined in buying the fpices, yet the care of getting and "preparing them was left particularly to the women mentioned by "St. Luke and as they were Galileans, and not at home at Jerufalem, and probably unacquainted with the method of embalming "bodies, that they employed fome inhabitants of the place to buy "and prepare the fpices, and to go with them to apply them to the body; and these are the Tis our aulas, others with them, in St. Luke.

"This will account for St. Matthew faying nothing of spices ;"for they had none with them: they fet out before those who were to bring the fpices, to fee what condition the fepulchre was in: and "their bufinefs is properly expreffed by diwga Trápor, to fee the "fepulchre.

"Mary Magdalene was with the firft (Matthew and Mark) who "went to the fepulchre; but I think she did not go to the fepulchre

then as foon as fhe was in fight of the place, lifting up her eyes “[ávabhé↓aoa, Mark xvi. 4.] and feeing the ftone removed, the "turned inftantly [τpixer, John xx 2.] to tell Peter and John. And "it is plain by her behaviour at her fecond going, that he had 66 no fhare in the fright that feized those who went on after she left ❝ them."

§ 9. Having thus cleared the way, I fhall now fet down the feveral incidents of this wonderful event in the order in which, according to the foregoing obfervations, they feem to have arifen; after premifing that our Saviour Chrift was crucified on a Friday (the preparation, or the third day before the Jewish fabbath), gave up the ghoft about three o'clock in the afternoon of the fame day, and was buried that evening, before the commencement of the Sabbath, which among the Jews was always reckoned to begin from the first appearance of the stars on Friday evening, and to end at the appearance of them again on the day we call Saturday: that fome time, and most probably towards the close of the Sabbath, after the religious duties of the day were over, the chief priests obtained of Pilate, the Roman governor, a guard to watch the fepulchre, till the third day was past, pretending to apprehend that his difciples might come by night, and fteal away the body, and then give out that he was rifen, according to what he himself had predicted, while he was yet alive: that they did accordingly fet a guard, made fure the fepulchre, and, to prevent the foldiers themselves from concurring with the Difciples, they put a feal upon the ftone which clofed up the entrance of the fe

pulchre.

The

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