into the sepulchre." Then went in John also, and they both believed that the body had been taken away out of the sepulchre as Mary Magdalene had said; but of which until then they seem to have doubted. As to His resurrection they had no expectation of that, although it had been sufficiently foretold to them'. The disciples, after their Lord's crucifixion, appear to have entertained no hopes of His resurrection. Shocked and confounded, dismayed at finding Him condemned to the ignominious death of the cross, they had forgot every thing He had said to them respecting His rising again. Most of them seem to have remained concealed during the whole time that Jesus was in the grave, and to have given themselves up to sorrow and despair.

SECT. CLXVII.-Christ appeareth to Mary Magdalene.— Mark xvi. 9-11; John xx. 11–18.

PETER and John now returned to the house where they and the other disciples were used to lodge, or at least to have assembled together in this anxious interval 9. "But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping; and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white, sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain; and they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?"

7 Bishop Mann.

8

Bishop Porteus.

9

" Bishop Pearce.

It is plain from this relation, that the Angels were not always visible, but appeared and disappeared as they thought proper; for, when the first woman came to the sepulchre, one Angel only was seen: when John and Peter went into the sepulchre they saw no Angels; but Mary, after their departure, looking in, saw two'. "She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus; Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?" She supposed Him "to be the gardener," or proprietor of the enclosure, in which the sepulchre was; and it is possible that she did not immediately recognize that it was Jesus, because, in that early hour of the morning, there might not have been sufficient light at the time to enable her to see distinctly. "Supposing Him then to be the gardener, she saith unto Him, Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away;" I will carry Him back to His sepulchre, and to some other place where we may anoint His body and bury Him decently 3. "Jesus saith unto her, Mary! she turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni.' Jesus then says to her, Be not solicitous to

1 West.

2

Bishop Pearce.

3 Dr. Hammond.

touch or hold Me now; thou wilt have time sufficient, and proofs to be assured of the reality of My resurrection; for I shall not immediately ascend; but shall yet remain with you some time longer here on earth'. Referring then to some conversation that He had had with His disciples, before His death, He says, I must ascend to My Father before I can fulfil all I have promised; do not, therefore, touch Me or detain Me; but wait patiently for My ascension; and go and tell the same things to My brethren for their encouragement'.

SECT. CLXVIII.-Christ appeareth to other Women.Matt. xxviii. 9, 10; Luke xxiv. 1-11.

MARY and Salome, who had told no man of the Angel they had seen at the sepulchre, were also met on their way by Jesus Christ Himself, after He had appeared to Mary Magdalene; and they were commanded by Him to tell the brethren to go into Galilee, and that there they should see Him. Joanna, and the other women, who appear to have been later with "the spices, which they had prepared," came, according to the same intent, of embalming the body of Jesus, but did not arrive at the sepulchre until after the return of Mary Magdalene and the Apostles, and, finding the stone removed, they, without hesitation, entered the sepulchre," and found not the body of Jesus ;" Dr. Lightfoot.

'Dr. Whitby.

two men stood

And as they

their faces to

but they had seen nobody in their way, and had heard nothing: they were "much perplexed thereabout: and, behold, by them in shining garments. were afraid, and bowed down the earth, they said unto them, Why search ye here at the sepulchre of the dead for one who is alive? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how He spake unto you when He was in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” These very words of Jesus are distinctly recorded by St. Matthew, and are here referred to by St. Luke; yet the resurrection was in itself so strange a thing, and the minds of the disciples were so weighed down with sorrow, and prejudiced by the disappointments they had met with, that, though Jesus had thus expressly foretold He should rise again, they hardly hoped for it, and could not believe the women, when they acquainted them with the intimations they had received of it 3.

SECT. CLXIX.--Christ appeareth to the two Disciples at Emmaus.-Mark xvi. 12, 13; Luke xxiv. 13-35.

"THE same day two of the disciples went to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs." They had evidently left the city before any of the women

6 West.

7 Dr. S. Clarke.

8 Ibid.

had come back with their report that they had actually seen Christ; but they had already heard that those who had been at the sepulchre "“had found not His body, but had also seen a vision of Angels, which said that He was alive." Whilst they were debating these things together, "Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden, that they should not know Him," that is, through God's will so disposing it, they knew not that it was Jesus". The design of this was, doubtless, that they might be brought to make a proper use of their understanding, and might become convinced, from an examination of the Scriptures, that Christ ought to have suffered all they had seen Him suffer, "and to enter into His glory." Our Lord chose rather to convince them by their reason, than by sense, or, at least, so to prepare their minds, that their assenting afterwards to the testimony of their senses, it should be with the concurrence of their reason. "And beginning at Moses, and all the Prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." And now, having duly prepared them to receive the testimony of their senses, He discovered Himself to them, and that by an act of devotion,-"in breaking of bread," which, among the Jews, was always attended

9 Dr. Hammond.