they feared greatly, saying: "Truly this was the Son of God." And many women which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him, stood afar off; among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children. And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.1

When the even was come, Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable counsellor, a good man and a just, who also himself waited for the kingdom of God (being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews), went boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus; and the governor, when he knew of the centurion that he was already dead, gave Joseph leave to take it. Joseph came, therefore, and took the body of Jesus, and having bought fine linen, he wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre. And there came also Nicodemus, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre, hewn out of a rock, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. The women, whose names we have already mentioned, and whose affection for him was the most ardent, sat over against the sepulchre, and beheld where he was laid.2

Now the next day, the priests and Pharisees falsely reported to Pilate some of the words of the Lord, and having obtained his consent, they sealed the stone, and placed soldiers all round to keep watch over the sepulchre."

CH. XIX. Our Lord's resurrection-Harmony of the accounts of the evangelists, from St. Augustine.

WE read in the evangelical narrative an account of

1 Matt. xxvii. 50—56; Mark xv. 37-41; Luke xxiii. 46-49; John xix. 30.

2 Matt. xxvii. 57-61; Mark xv. 42-47; Luke xxiii, 50-55: John xix. 38-42.

3 Matt. xxvii. 62-66.

several circumstances which took place at the resurrection of our Lord, which would appear to be irreconcileable, unless the order in which they happened is carefully considered. It may, therefore, be well to consult what Augustine, an enlightened commentator on the holy Scriptures, says upon this subject, in the third book of his "Harmony of the Evangelists," which I shall quote in his own words. Thus, after discussing several questions, he makes this declaration: "I will endeavour, by God's help, to collect in one continuous narration all the facts immediately connected with our Lord's resurrection, according to the testimonies of the several evangelists, so far as they can be arranged." 1

They all agree in the coming [of the women] to the sepulchre, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week; before which, however, the facts which Matthew alone relates had occurred, viz., the great earthquake, the rolling back of the stone, the consternation of the keepers, some of whom lay near the spot like dead men. According to John, Mary Magdalene came, no doubt with the other women who ministered to our Lord, but her affection for him was more ardent; and therefore, with good reason, John makes particular mention of her, passing over in silence the names of those who, according to the statements of the other evangelists, were with her. She came, therefore, and when she saw the stone taken away from the sepulchre, before she had examined anything attentively, not doubting that the body of Jesus was removed, as John tells us, she ran to announce to himself, as well as to Simon Peter, what she had seen. This John was the disciple whom Jesus loved. And they both began to run towards the sepulchre, and John, coming first to the place, stooped down, and saw the linen clothes lying, yet went he not in. Then cometh Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then John went in also, and saw and believed what Mary had said, that they had

1 St. August., de Consens. Evangel., iii. 69. The quotation from St. Augustine continues to the end of the first paragraph in page 83 here following.

taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre; for as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre, weeping, that is to say, before the spot where the tomb had been hewn out of the rock, although within the space where the women had already entered. Now in that place there was a garden, as John informs us. They then saw on their right hand the angel who had rolled back the stone from the door of the sepulchre; and was sitting upon it. Of this angel Matthew and Mark speak in the following terms: "Then said he unto the women: Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here; for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.' What Mark relates does not differ from Matthew's narrative.

us,

66

We

As Mary wept on hearing these words, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and, as John informs saw two angels in white, sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. They say unto her: 'Woman, why weepest thou?' She saith unto them: 'Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him."'" must understand that the angels had risen, and that they were seen standing, as Luke mentions, when they said to the women who were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? he is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." And they remembered his words.1

After this, Mary turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, as John tells us, 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

13..

1 Matt. xxviii. 1–7; Mark xvi. 1–7; Luke xxiv. 1—8; John xx. 1—

unto him: "Sir, if thou have borne him 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; 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.'" She then departed from the sepulchre, that is to say, the place where the garden lay before the cave in the rock, accompanied by the other women, who, as Mark informs us, trembled, and were amazed, neither said they anything to any man." And as they went, behold, Jesus met them, saying: "All hail." And they came, and clung to his feet, and worshipped him. From these statements we gather, that, during their visit to the tomb, they were twic addressed by the angels, as well as by the Lord himself; that is to say, the first time when Mary supposed him to be the gardener, and afterwards when Jesus came to meet them in the way. By appearing twice before these women, he confirmed their faith, and allayed their fears. He then said unto them: "Be not afraid; go, tell my brethren, that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me." Mary Magdalene, therefore, came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her; and not only unto her, but also to the other women who are mentioned in the gospel of Luke. They told these things unto the eleven disciples, and to all the rest; and their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Mark attests these facts. Indeed, after he has described the state of these women, who went out of the sepulchre trembling and amazed to such a degree that they did not say anything to any man; he adds that, when the Lord was risen he appeared first-early the first day of the week-to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils; and that she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept, who, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. Matthew inserts this additional circumstance in his narrative, that, after the departure of the women who had seen and heard all these things, some of the watch, who had fallen to the ground as dead men, came into the

city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done, that is to say, all that they had seen and known. When the priests were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large bribes unto the soldiers to induce them to say that his disciples had stolen him away while they slept; promising at the same time to secure them from the anger of the governor, who had placed them there to guard the tomb. The soldiers took the money, and did as they were taught; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Luke is the only evangelist who does not say that our Saviour appeared to the women, but only the angels. Now Matthew asserts that Jesus met them on their return from the sepulchre. Mark also assures us, as well as John, that he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, but does not tell us how he appeared to her, while John explains this.'

As the four evangelists agree, in their faithful narratives, on all that the Almighty Emmanuel did before his passion; so they relate, in harmony with each other, his resurrection and ascension, and inform us that the Lord was seen by mortal eyes on ten occasions after he had risen from the dead: once by the women at the sepulchre; again, by these same women in the way as they returned from the tomb; the third time he appeared to Simon Peter; and if the evangelist has not informed us when or where the meeting took place, he plainly declares that it did occur. The fourth time, he appeared to the two disciples who were going to a village called Emmaus, but in another form, that they might not know him; he accompanied them in the way as a traveller, and inquired of them the cause of their sadness and of their complaints. When he heard the lamentation of Cleopas concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how they delivered him to be condemned to death, he gently reproved them for being slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken; and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them the Scriptures. And they constrained him to accept of their hospitality; and, as he sat at meat with them, he took

1 Matt. xxviii. 8-15; Mark xvi. 8—11; Luke xxiv. 9-12; John xx. 14-18.