qualified to attest. Thus, John alone gives an account of the news first brought them by Mary Magdalene, and what succeeded, xx. 1-9, because he was himself concerned in the transaction. On the same principle Luke has recorded the case of the disciples going to Emmaus, because he was best qualified to do it, Cleopas being one of them, and Luke himself the

other.

Q. If our Lord foretold his disciples that he would rise again from the dead, if an angel assured the women that he was alive; and moreover if they themselves saw and conversed with him after his restoration to life, is it reasonable to suppose that they should still doubt the fact?-A. A belief in the existence of spirits, good and evil, was in those ages very general, not only in Heathen countries, but also in Judea. To this belief, which the disciples indeed entertained in common with others, it was owing that they doubted the fact. They believed that a being of a superior order appeared to the women and to them in the well-known form of Jesus, but they disbelieved that it was Jesus himself.

Q. As the popular superstition disposed men, at the time, to disbelieve the resurrection of Christ, did his enemies avail themselves of it with a view to set it aside ? -A. As they pretended that he had a demon while yet living, it was natural for them to assert, that what his followers saw was no other than that which dwelt in him before his crucifixion. But it appeared to all utterly incredible that he, who was distinguished as much by purity and beneficence as he was by his wonderful works, could have any connexion with evil spirits. They therefore soon had recourse to a more plausible and effectual scheme. Most of the leading men of Judea had visited, and in part received their education in heathen countries, where they apostatized in principle at least from the God of their fathers. The attribute most essential to a divine Being, was exemption from death: and they soon perceived that by insisting on the divinity

of Christ, they might virtually set aside his resurrection, and the hope of a future state founded upon it. The wisdom of God enabled Jesus to anticipate this artful and pernicious subterfuge; and in providing means to meet it, he provided means to ensure a well grounded faith in his resurrection till the end of time. I will here point them out.

When his disciples, under the influence of the popular superstition, supposed him to be a spirit in his shape, Jesus assures them that it was he himself: "And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, 'Peace be unto you!' But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed they had seen a spirit*. And he said unto them, 'Why are ye troubled, and why do doubts rise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see me, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.'" Luke xxiv. 36-40.

If Jesus were a divine being, be would have risen by virtue of his own nature. The bandage would have been burst, the stone rolled away, and the body brought out, by his own power. An angel is a minister or even an instrument in the hand of God: and here it means the agency of God displayed under a visible symbol, to show that these effects were brought about by a divine

* By what is here called a spirit, they meant one of those supernatural spirits styled demons among the Gentiles. But they avoided the use of that name here in connexion with Jesus, as the Jews looked upon the demons as all evil. Jerome informs us that the Nazarene Gospel for spiritus used incorporale dæmonium : and Ignatius, who had the best opportunity to know what the Apostles meant, thus paraphrases the clause in his Epistle to the Smyrnæans, ψηλαφήσατε με, και ειδετε, ότι ουκ ειμι δαιμονιον ασώματον. They seem to have thought that, while he appeared to have flesh and bones, he in reality had them not. Now the idea generally entertained of the demons was, that they were spirits occasionally assuming the form, though not the substance, of the human body. For this reason they were called dayona ασαρκα. Maximus Tyrius, Dissertation xv. p. 163, thus speaks of the demons, Ου γαρ σαρκες &ι δαιμονων φύσεις, ουδε οσα, ουδε άιμα, ουδε αλλο τι σκέδασον, η λυομενον η τηκομενον, η διαῤῥεον.

power foreign to Jesus himself. Thus, two angels appeared unto Mary, one standing at the head, the other at the feet where the body lay. John xx. 12. These pointed to the Supreme Being as the source of that energy by which he was restored to life, and carried out of the grave. The linen bands lying, and the napkin wrapped up by itself, also denoted the interposition of an external force. It is further to be remarked, that neither the women nor the disciples were told that Jesus was risen, till they went into the sepulchre and saw with their own eyes that the body was not there. By this they were prepared to conclude that it was Jesus himself, and not a superior being in his shape, that soon after appeared to them alive. Moreover, it is observable that Jesus did not show himself to the women at the sepulchre when overwhelmed with terror: on the contrary, he withdrew to a distance, thus giving time for their alarm to subside; and then appeared to them after they recovered the full use of their reason: and, lest they might still think that what they saw and heard was a delusion, he discovered himself to them by exercising their recollection rather than their senses. Thus he made himself known to Mary by the tone of his voice, and his habitually tender manner of accosting her. Thus too he disguised his form to the two disciples at Emmaus, and manifested himself by his peculiar method of cutting the bread. Nor should it be omitted that, when the women were going to inform the disciples of his being risen, he desires these women to remind them of the prediction which he gave them, that he should rise and go before them into Galilee. This was an important circumstance, because it proved to the disciples that the person who appeared to the women, and the person who foretold this circumstance, was one and the same; and, as a proof of his identity, Jesus himself gives it emphasis by repeating it; "And behold he will go before you into Galilee; there ye shall see him. Behold I have foretold you."

Men in the present age, who have discarded the Pagan gods, and look up to the Almighty as alone able to controul the laws of nature, can hardly guess at the important inference which he inculcated on his disciples by taking food and eating with them; "Have ye any thing here to eat?' And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and some honey-comb; and he took of these and ate before them." The Heathens believed that their gods, as being without flesh and blood, did not eat human food. Jesus here showed to them that he had flesh and blood, and that he did eat, and therefore was not a superior being; but was then, as he was before, a being of the same order and constitution with themselves*.

After he appeared to the women, and to Peter, he joined in disguise the two disciples that went to Emmaus. And when the conversation turned on the report of the women that he was seen again alive, he adds, " O unwise and slow of heart to believe all the things which the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer, and then enter into his glory? Then he began and explained to them, from Moses and all the prophets in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself." Luke xxiv. 25. It is to be observed that he gave this explanation while yet on the way, and before he had made himself known to them; and his object by so doing was to make these men feel the full force and truth of those prophecies, while they were yet undisposed to admit their validity, and uninfluenced by the authority of their divine Master. He seems also with great delicacy and skill to have so pointed out the correspondence between the predictions of the prophets and the claims of Jesus, as to bring the idea of him to their minds in a manner the most vivid; and hence they said to one another, after having discovered him, "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked to us on the way, and * Ου γαρ σιτον εδουσ', ου πίνουσ' αίθοπα οίνον

Τουνεκ' αναιμονες είσι, και αθανατοι καλεονται. 11. s. 340.

while he explained to us the Scriptures?" The Gnostic deceivers denied all connexion between Judaism and the Gospel, between the Prophets and Christ and nothing was better adapted to frustrate their end than the conduct of Jesus on this occasion.

Q. But what object had Jesus more particularly to effect in going before his disciples into Galilee ?—A. His principal design was to fortify the truth of his resurrection by a still greater number of witnesses. He gave his disciples the assurance that, after being put to death, he should rise again, and go before them into Galilee. The fulfilment of that prediction was necessary to the complete confirmation of their faith, while it placed the identity of his person beyond the reach of scepticism. Besides, Galilee had been the principal theatre of his ministry: there multitudes, whom he had benefited by his instruction and miraculous power, loved and honoured him with an ardour almost religious. After having now finished the work which was given him by his heavenly Father to do, the salvation of mankind, it was natural for him above all things to return and show himself to the many faithful and anxious friends who shared in his distress and humiliation. This he did; and having filled them with the joyful and triumphant hope of living with him for ever in glory, he soon after took his final leave of the world.

Q. But would it not have been equally wise and politic to have shown himself to his enemies, the men in power who put him to death? This at least would have left them without excuse ?-4. Human wisdom might dictate this measure: but the wisdom of God judged otherwise. Jesus could not have shown himself after his resurrection to his destroyers, without the appearance of exultation over baffled foes; a spirit the most repugnant to the meek and compassionate Jesus. Besides, it was a maxim with him, not to reveal the will of God to any but to those who were disposed to comply with it ;