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and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if Thou have borne Him

had spoken; but she neither recognizes His voice, nor person. It is a strange peculiarity of the body of the resurrection, that, though the same body, it is so changed and spiritualized, that it possesses new powers and faculties. Christ disguised or revealed Himself at will; He was unknown to Mary Magdalene, to the disciples going to Emmaus, to the disciples fishing in the Galilæan lake, until, in some familiar action, He manifested Himself to those, who then at once recognized and adored Him. Again, no bars, which prevent the progress of natural bodies, hindered His entrance or exit. He left the tomb, but none saw Him pass, and His passage left no trace; He came to the eleven disciples, without opening the fastenings which so jealously closed their doors, "for fear of the Jews." He came without being noticed, or His approach heard. He does not, any more than before His death, appear to have been at once in more places than one-for that is not a condition possible to created body, but only to the omnipresence of the Deity-but time and space appear to be as nothing to Him. He was present with Mary at the tomb; and, it would seem, immediately on leaving her, with the other women, who were now approaching the city. He assumed, also, various powers, or likenesses. He was to Mary, as the gardener; to the other women, as Himself at once; "in another form" He appeared to those at Emmaus. And there is, further, the power to convey instantaneous and full recognition, by a word, as to Mary, or in an action, as to the disciples at Emmaus, and to those who had been fishing on the Lake of Galilee; and this, evidently, quite different from the way in which, to ourselves, some casual accent of the voice, or a gesture, may recall features once known and forgotten. We must remember that the excellencies, and powers, of the body of the resurrection, were not fully perceptible to those bound by the fetters of mortality. We know little of "that body that shall be," or of "the glory which shall be revealed in us;" but these glimpses of the activities, and powers, of the body of the risen Saviour (and they are but the faintest glimpses), reveal a condition of being immeasurably superior to that which is ours now. (See iii. 5; iv. 3.)

36. the gardener. Not Joseph, the owner of the garden, but him under whose care it was. The word "gardener" may mislead an English reader, who is unacquainted with Eastern customs; the man was rather a keeper of the ground, than one employed in cultivating it. Christ seemed to Mary, either from His habit, or to her fancy, as being in charge of the place. She at once applies to Him for informa

hence, tell me where Thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary! She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch Me not; tion about the removal of the body; but, as she has invested Him with a supposed character, so she concludes He will at once conjecture whom she is seeking, and her own right in the dead. To her devout and faithful heart, there is but one "Him." Many words could not more fully pourtray the hastiness, and inconclusiveness, of one entirely absorbed in her own sorrows.

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37. Mary. This is one of the most touching and beautiful incidents in Holy Scripture. Description can do it faint justice; and he who reads it to others, must feel how inadequately he can render accent or gesture, which he knows must have thrown life into this our Lord's single word, "Mary." How many memories of past years must have flashed across her mind! One of the Evangelists, in speaking of this revelation of Christ to Mary, adds, "out of whom went seven devils; and this recollection is not needed to identify her, but to point out how, to her penitence and love, Christ now showed Himself, first of all His followers, crowning the deliverance of her past life with the earnest of the resurrection. Who can follow a glance of the mind? Yet, surely the past and future blessings called her at once from the very depths of despair; sorrow and mourning fled away before the light of Christ's presence. She at once knew Him as her Lord, and confessed Him.

38. touch Me not.-This is an injunction difficult to understand. To Mary, doubtless, our Lord's voice and gesture conveyed the meaning, which (like the rendering of His mention of her name) we cannot exactly realize. Scarcely any two of the early or later writers agree in interpretation. But there appear to be two or three main ideas, which sum up the opinions which they have very variedly expressed. (i.) Our Lord, who is just leaving her, to show Himself to the other women, who were already approaching the city, on their return from the sepulchre, says, "Detain Me not; cling to Me not now" (as the original implies). "You will have other opportunities of seeing and conversing with Me, for I am not immediately about to ascend to My Father." (ii.) Our Lord restrains Mary from such familiar embrace, as she now proffered, not understanding the great difference and dignity which belongs to the body of the resurrection, impressing her, therefore, with right perception of the reverence due to a spiritual body; and pointing her to that future state, and to the kingdom of His Father, whither presently, but not immediately, He was going, where all who are "risen with Him, shall have the fruition of His glorious Godhead." The want of intelligence of this spiritual condition, would be a bar to real and true association with Christ; and it would never be perceived

for I am not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God.

by those who thought of Christ as merely human; therefore, "though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet henceforth know we Him no more." Perhaps the words of our Lord conveyed something of both these meanings to Mary-the intimation that the relationships of earth were spiritualized, and exalted, by the resurrection, which brings humanity into the presence of God; and that, therefore, she must rise to higher conceptions of the intercourse of those risen from the dead; but that this would not be her last, and only, sight of her Lord upon earth. The change would not come like a sudden shock and repulse; there would be other opportunities of learning what He declared now; for, though He was about to ascend to God, He would not so immediately leave the earth, as to see her no more. Bishop Hall takes this view: "There may be a kind of carnality in spiritual actions. Thou that livedst here in this shape, that colour, this stature, that habit, I should be glad to know; nothing that concerns Thee can be unuseful. Could I say, Here Thou satst, here Thou layst, here and thus Thou wert crucified, here buried, here settedst Thy last foot; I should, with much contentment, see and recount these memorials of Thy presence; but if I shall so fasten my thoughts upon these, as not to look higher, to the spiritual part of Thine achievement, to the power and issue of Thy resurrection, I am never the better."

39. go to My brethren.-(See Rom. viii. 29; Heb. ii. 11.) Mary Magdalene would thus ever be known, amongst the disciples, as the first messenger of the resurrection, on the part of Christ Himself; and by her mouth was conveyed to them that name, " brethren," now first used by our Lord, and expressive of a more intimate relationship than any used before; and also indicative of His still being the Son of man, though the risen Lord. Hilary says, "Since death began from the female sex, to her first is given the seeing and announcing of the glory of the resurrection ;" and, as Eve brought the message of death, so did woman the tidings of resurrection." An English writer calls her "an apostle to the Apostles." (See note 19.)

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40. My Father, and your Father, etc.—Our Lord expresses a mutual relationship between Himself and His people, but not an identical one. God is our Father and our God, as He is " the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;" but Christ is the only begotten and Divine Son of the Father, “equal to the Father as touching His Godhead;" whilst we, whom He is not ashamed to call brethren, are the adopted "children of God, through faith in Jesus Christ." God is also our God, as He created, redeemed, and sanctifies us; He is the God of Christ, in that relationship in which Christ is "inferior to the Father, as touching His manhood." Christ could not, therefore, in speaking to us of His, and

VOL. II.

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Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples, as they mourned and wept, that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things unto her. And they, when they had heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

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our, relationship to God the Father, say, "our" Father, and "our God; but "My Father, and your Father; My God, and your God." S. Augustine explains, briefly: "Mine by nature, yours by grace." Bishop Andrewes also defines, very clearly: "His Father is our Father, by His means; our God is His God, by ours. Him that was our God, we make to be His God, that Him that was His Father He may make to be our Father. God is His Father in His estate of immortal life; ours, in our estate of this mortal life. His by nature, by very generation; ours by grace, by mere adoption. Our God by nature, His no otherwise than as He took upon Him our nature." There is here a very remarkable instance of what is an invariable rule, in the original Greek, when Christ speaks of God as Father. When speaking of God as His Father, He always prefixes the article; but when He speaks of Him as 66 our," or "your" Father, the article is not prefixed. There is great subtilty of expression, often quite untranslatable, in the insertion, or omission, of the Greek article.

41. as they mourned.-The interval of the sabbath was passed, with its special duties, and its restraints of sorrow; and now the days of the world's life were beginning again for them, and they felt the full force of their loss. They did not yet know "the Lord's day," and its associations of great joy. Christ's message, by Mary, came to them (as He loves to send His messages of love and happiness) in the hour of depression and sorrow; 'your sorrow shall be turned into joy."

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42. believed not.-" Slow of heart to believe," is the characteristic of all the disciples, unless we may except S. John. It is only natural that this should be the case, as their conception of Christ's mission, and kingdom, has been so uniformly earthly and temporal. It was, however, sad that they refused direct testimony from one, who could neither be mistaken, nor convey an intentional untruth to them; they believe neither the vision of angels, nor the message of Christ Himself. If we understand this unbelief in its higher and spiritual sense, it represents the slowness of the heart to receive, as its own interest, that sure doctrine of Scripture, which, on the evidence of Scripture, men do not deny nor doubt; but which they must be taught of God to realize, as the tidings of their personal salvation. It matters little to them, that Christ is seen and acknowledged by the faith of others, until His Spirit reveals the truth to themselves. It is, however, dangerous to refuse to hear, even when we do not fully realize what we hear; for, ultimately, "faith cometh by hearing."

Christ appears to the other Women on their way to the City. S. Matt. xxviii. 9, 10.

And as they [the other women] went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held Him by the feet, and worshipped

43. to tell His disciples.-Greswell has adopted the opinion, that there were two parties of women, quite distinct. He lays great stress on the omission of the words of S. Matthew, "as they went to tell the disciples." It is quite possible that these words, which are omitted in many old MSS., are spurious; but their omission would scarcely give the support he claims from it, to the theory he advances, that our Lord's appearance to the women did not take place till after the eighth day from the resurrection-in fact, that Christ did not show Himself to either of the parties he mentions, on the day of the resurrection; but to some of the same women, on a later occasion. The difficulty, with him, is the message to assemble in Galilee; and he says we may take it for granted, that they set out as soon as they were commanded"they could not have received the message on one day, and obeyed it only a week afterwards." The narrative of the Evangelists, however, seems certainly to justify the usual opinion, that Christ did appear to the women (one party, even if they started from different parts of the city) on the morning of the resurrection, and they then received Christ's message concerning the meeting in Galilee. The disciples, as they did not believe the women, would not expedite their arrangements for this gathering; which must have required so much preparation, that they may well have allowed a longer interval than eight days to elapse, before they set out for the appointed place. The words of S. Luke (xxiv. 9-12) seem especially conclusive against this theory. In the first place, it is not likely they would have been visiting the sepulchre, as there stated, eight days after the resurrection; and S. Luke certainly connects the visit, and the delivery of the tidings, too closely to admit an interval. (See note 3.)

44. held Him.-Christ, who had left Mary Magdalene, now presents Himself to these women, on their way to the city, and, with words of greeting, manifests Himself at once to them; and they now receive this, as the reward of faith. We notice that our Lord allows, in these women, the embrace which He had discouraged in Mary Magdalene. They were still alarmed; and He gave them—as, subsequently, to the disciples (Luke xxiv. 39), and to Thomas (John xx. 27)—this substantial evidence of His corporeity, to assure them, after their converse with the angel spirits of heaven. The message repeated by Christ is that already given by the angels, for the general gathering of the

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