450

They go and tell all these things to the disciples.

SECT. much at heart to deliver this important message in the most punctual and effectual manner.

Luke

10 It was Mary Mag

and Mary the mother of

were with

things unto the apostles.

MARK XVI.

10.

And they were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, XXIV. and Mary [the mother] of James and Joses, and dalene, and Joanna, 10 Salome, and the other women that had gone with James, and other wo them to the sepulchre, as above, with an in- men that tent to embalm Christ's body (p. 435), who them, which told these were the persons that were thus honoured with this message from the angels, and from Christ himself; and who accordingly came and told these things to the apostles, who had none of them as yet seen any thing more themselves than that the sepulchre was empty, and the linen Mark clothes laid in order. And Mary Magdalene XVI. 10 in particular went with the other women, and And [Mary Magdatold the disciples that had been so constantly with lene] went and told [the disciples] that had him, as they were mourning and weeping for the been with him, as they loss of their dear Master, that she also had seen mourned and wept, the Lord; and that indeed he had appeared to Lord, and that he had [that she had seen the her the first of all the company, and had spoken spoken these things these gracious things unto her as well as to them unto her.] [JOHN XX. 18.] relating to his resurrection from the dead, and had expressly ordered her to acquaint them with his purpose of ascending ere long to his Father and their Father, and to his God and their God. (Compare John xx. 17, p. 442.)

11

they had heard that

he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not: [and their

words seemed to them as idle tales.] [LUKE XXIV. 11.]

But such were the prevailing prejudices that 11 And they, when had possessed the minds of the disciples, and so entirely were their spirits dejected, and their hopes blasted by the death of their Lord, that though they could not think this was related with a design to impose upon them, yet they were ready to impute it to the power of imagination; and even when they heard that he was actually alive, and had been seen by her, and by the other women who also testified the same, they did not in general believe it; but their words seemed to most of them as an idle tale, and they determined to suspend their belief of so important a fact till they were satisfied of it by the testimony of their own senses; which, through the great condescension of their Lord, several of them were before the end of that day, as we shall quickly relate.

IMPROVEMENT.

Mat. xxviii. 6

see

We are now again called, as by the angel's voice, to come and the place where the Lord lay, and to take an affectionate sur

The guards return, and make their report to the priests.

451

CXCV.

xxviii.6.

vey of that sepulchre, which our rising Saviour had left, and where SECT. he had laid aside the dress of death, as a token that he should return to it no more. How wonderful that he should ever have Mat. lain there! that the Lord of life should have dwelt among the dead, and from the glory of the throne of God should have sunk down to the abasement of the grave !-But he has burst its prison doors, and has abolished death, and him who had the power of it; abolished it for himself and us. How are all its terrors now disarmed! O death, where is thy sting! O grave where is thy victory! (1 Cor. xv. 55.)

With what pleasure did the angels deliver this gracious message 7, 8 of their Lord as well as ours! and with what transport did the pious women receive it! Behold the tender care of Christ over his people! Angels have it immediately in charge to send the glad tidings to his disciples; and Jesus repeats and confirms them. Go tell my brethren, I am risen from the dead. Lord! Is this 10 thy language concerning those who but a few hours before had forsaken thee! and one of them, with such dreadful imprecations, denied thee! Yet even that disciple is not excluded; nay, to him is it peculiarly addressed go tell my brethren, and in particular tell Peter, that he, poor mourner, may especially be comforted. xvi, 7. Compassionate Redeemer! thou hast brought up from the tomb with thee that tenderness and goodness which laid thee there!

Mark

Such is the freedom and glory of thy grace, that thou some-9 times dost first manifest thyself to those who were once in the most miserable bondage to Satan. Whenever this is the case, may the peculiar obligation be remembered! May every remainder of unbelief be subdued in our souls! and may we joyfully 10 communicate to all around us the tidings of a risen Saviour, and the merciful discoveries of his presence to us!

SECT. CXCVI.

The guards, returning to Jerusalem, make their report to the chief priests; and are bribed to say that the disciples stole the body of Christ while they slept. Christ appears to Peter, and then to two other disciples. Mat. XXVIII. 11-15. Mark XVI. 12, 13.

MAT. XXVIII. 11.

NOW when they

some of the watch

MAT. XXVIII. 11.

cxcvi.

Mat.

were going, behold, NOW while these extraordinary things were SECT. transacting, and the [women] were going to came into the city, tell the disciples, what they had heard and seen and shewed unto the behold, some of the guards, who had fled from the XXVIII. things that were done. sepulchre in great consternation, began a little 11 to recollect themselves, as to the excuse they should make for its being broke open, and the body being gone, as it would soon be known

chief priests all the

VOL. VII.

3 L

that

452 They hire them to say, his disciples stole the body as they slept;

cxcvi.

Mat.

SECT that it was: they came therefore into the city, and told the chief priests, from whom they had received their immediate charge, all that had XXVIII. happened; and urged how impossible it was for 11 them to make any opposition in the presence of the angel, who shook the very earth with the terror of his appearance, and therefore might be easily supposed to take away all power of resistance from them. And thus these ignorant and stupid heathens became in effect the first preachers of Christ's resurrection, and were witnesses of the truth of it to the most inveterate of his enemies a.

were assembled with the elders, and had

12 This report could not but strike the chief 12 And when they
priests into some amazement and confusion :
and therefore they immediately convened the taken counsel, they
sanhedrim; and having met together with the gave large money un-
elders of the people, they deliberated upon it, to the soldiers.
and consulted among themselves what they should
do in so perplexing an emergency; and parti-
cularly whether they should dismiss the guards
with a charge to conceal the story they had told
them, or should accuse them to the governor,
and attempt to punish them for neglecting their
duty but, considering the manner in which the
governor had appeared affected towards Jesus,
and the many prodigies which had attended his
death, by which Pilate's conscience must have
been in some degree awakened; and also know-
ing they had no positive proof of any negligence
or treachery in the soldiers, they resolved to
commence no prosecution against them, and to
pass it over without any complaint; but, appre-
hending that the most effectual method they
could take would be to endeavour to pervert
their evidence, they gave a large [sum of]
13 money to the soldiers b.
Saying, Since this

a These ignorant and stupid heathens became in effect the first preachers, &c.] Such news, coming from such persons,must undoubtedly throw the priests into inexpressible confusion; but it is remarkable, that neither the soldiers nor the priests were converted by what the one saw or the other heard. Perhaps the soldiers might think that Jesus was, like some of their fabulous heroes, the son of some deity, who brought him to life again; but, instead of imagining themselves concerned in the purposes of his resurrection, they might perhaps abuse their knowledge of it, to confirm their belief of some superstitious

strange

13 Saying, Say ye,

his

tales of their own priests, which bore some little resemblance to it; as these of Alcestis, Hippolytus, Hercules, and many others did. See Valer. Max. lib. i. cap. vii. § 12. and Plin. Net. Hist. lib. vii. cap. 52.

b They gave a large sum of money to the soldiers.] Mr. Ditton very wel. observes (in his unanswerable Demonstration of Christ's Resurrection, p. 296.) that had they not been afraid to put them to death, as they were Romans, it is very probable that Caiaphas's maxim, (John xi. 50.) That it was better one man should die than all the people perish, would have cost some of them their lives; at least the commanding officer, had

Which story is still reported among the Jews.

away while we slept.

453

his disciples came by strange thing has happened, whether there real- SECT. night, and stole him ly was any sorcery in it, or whether it was cxcvi. merely your dream, it must for the public Mat. safety be concealed, or the whole nation will XXVII be deluded and undone we must therefore 13 insist upon it, that neither you, nor your companions, say any thing of what you imagine you saw; but if any should question you about it, and pretend that this Jesus is risen, say ye only in the general, We were weary with so long a watch, and dropped asleep; and we conclude, that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And you have no need to be afraid of being punished for your negligence; for if this should come to be heard by the governor, and he should blame you for sleeping on your guard, we will persuade him to make no farther inquiry about it, and by our interest with him will make you easy and secure.

14 And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him,

and secure you.

15 So they took the

money and did as they saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

were taught and this

14

And they took the money that was offered them, 15 and did as they were taught; and, according to their instructions, they concealed what they had seen, and pretended that some of the disciples must have taken the advantage of their weariness and neglect, and so have carried off the body while they were fallen asleep. And such are the prejudices of that unhappy people, that this story, wild and senseless as it was, is commonly reported among the Jews even to this day: and

he been fully in their power, would have been in imminent danger, Could they have proved any neglect, no doubt these soldiers would have been prosecuted to the utmost (as Peter's guards were afterwards, Acts xii. 19.) But, as they were destitute of all proof, it was prudence not to prosecute them at all; for, had Pilate acquitted them, it would have been in effect a public declaration, that he was convinced Jesus was indeed risen.

c Whether there really was any sorcery in it, &c.] They must, to be sure, be puzzled to account for this strange event: and, laying it down as a first principle, "that Jesus must be an impostor" they would, of course, incline to impute his resurrection, as they had ascribed his miracles to some diabolical operation. It is however probable, that such artful men might speak of it in such loose terms as the paraphrase represents, though they could not seriously endeavour to persuade the guards they were in a dream.

certainty what passed while they were asleep;
so that this was in effect only hiring them
to say, that they knew nothing of the matter,
and did not observe any thing more than
ordinary had passed that night. How ab-
surd this pretence was, a thousand circum-
stances concur to shew; as most writers
in defence of Christianity have demonstrat-
ed, and perhaps none, in few words, better
than Bishop Burnet on the Articles, p. 64.

e Reported among the Jews even to this day.] This seems to intimate, that Matthew wrote his gospel several years after our Lord's resurrection.-As to the industry of the Jews in propagating this report, it is very observable that Justin Martyr, (Dialog. cum. Tryph. p. 368. Edit. Thirlb.) expressly asserts, that the Jews sent chosen men of considerable rank over all the world, not only in the general to represent Christianity as an impious sect, but to assert that the body of Jesus was stolen out of his tomb by night, and that the persons who thus fraudently conveyed him ₫ And stole him away while we slept.] It away, took occasion from thence to rewas ridiculous to pretend to say with any port that he rose from the dead, and ascend3 L 2

ed

Jesus appears to two disciples.

SECT. and they still choose, in opposition to the most certain evidence, to believe this extravagant Mar. Suggestion, rather than yield to the truth of XXVIII Christ's resurrection, though solemnly attested 15 to them, by many who saw and conversed familiarly with him after he was risen from the dead; of which number "Peter was one, who was early distinguished by the favour of seeing him, and to whom indeed he appeared first of all the apostles f." (See 1 Cor. xv. 5.)

Now this account that Jesus was risen, was brought to the disciples by the women soon after his resurrection, on the first day of the week; and after this, on the same day, he appeared to two of them, though in another form, or in a different habit from what he ordinarily wore 8, as they were walking on the way, and going into the country to Emmaus, a neighbouring village.