fo doing, which reafons I have fhewn to be the reports of Mary Mag dalene and Joanna: and as there was a confiderable interval between his first and fecond vifit, a proportionable space of time must have intervened between the two reports. After Mary Magdalene's, he had been at the fepulchre, had returned from thence to his own home, and was now got with the other apoftles and difciples, whom, as Ì faid, he and John had in all probability called together before Joanna and the women with her came to make theirs.

Thirdly, as the reports were made at different times, and by different women, as the facts reported were different, and faid to have happened all in the fame place, viz. at the fepulchre, and as these facts muft of confequence have happened at different times; it follows, that the women, who reported thofe facts as happening in their prefence, must have been at the fepulchre at different times. For, had they been all prefent at each of thefe events, no reason can be given for their differing fo widely in their relations, and pretty difficult will it be to account for their varying fo much as to the time of making their reports. Here then is a ftrong argument in favour of what I have before advanced concerning the women's coming at different times to the fepulchre, and particularly about the Marys coming thither earlier than the reft. The reafon for their fo doing I have already pointed out in my obfervations upon St. Mark; and have fhewn, that, upon the fuppofition of that reafon's being the true one, their whole conduct was proper and confiftent: which leads me to confider that of Joanna and the other women, who came fomewhat later, and with another purpofe, to the fepulchre. The former came to take "a view or furvey of the fepulchre," as St. Matthew exprefsly fays; the latter came to "embalm or anoint the Lord's body," and for that end not only "brought the fpices which they had prepared," but were also accompanied by other women. Other women must mean fome befides thofe that followed Jefus from Galilee, of whom alone St. Luke fpeaks in the former part of this verfe and the latter part of the preceding chapter. By thefe therefore, as contradiftinguifhed from the Galilean women, he probably means the women of Jerufalem, a great company of whom followed Jefus as he was going to his crucifixion, bewailing and lamenting him*. But what number of them went upon this occafion with the women of Galilee, is not any where faid; neither, of thefe, are any named, befides Joanna, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, though many others followed Jefus from Galilee to Jerufalem, as both Matthew, c. 27. v. 55, and St. Mark, c. 15. v.41. inform us, and were prefent at the crucifixion. It is therefore very probable that moft, if not all, of those who were wont to minifter to him in Galilee, who attended him to Jerufalem, and accompanied him even to Mount Calvary, contributed to this pious office of embalming their Mafter's body, either by buying and preparing the unguents and fpices, and carrying them to the fepulchre, or by going to affift their companions in embalming the body and rolling away the ftone, for which purpose I fuppofe the women

* See the 27th verfe of the preceding chapter.

of Jerufalem principally attended, fince none of them feem to have. made any purchase of spices for embalming the body; and for this laft purpose it is farther probable they thought their numbers fufficient. Accordingly, we do not find them faying among themfelves, Who 'fhall roll away the ftone for us?' as the Marys did; nor do we find the Marys bringing the fpices which they had bought, as is here related of Joanna, and those with her: and doubtless the Evangelifts had a meaning in their use and application of thefe expreffions, the former of which is very agreeable to the purpose that carried the Marys fo early to the fepulchre; as is the latter to that of Joanna, who, coming to embalm the body, brought with her all that was neceffary for performing that bufinefs, viz. the fpices, and other women to affift her in rolling away the ftone, &c. The different conduct of the women, therefore, indicates their feveral purposes in going to the fepulchre, and tends to confirm what I have been all along labouring to prove, that they went thither at different times, and not all together.

And as their having had different motives was the cause of their going at different times, and dividing themselves into different companies, fo from their coming to the fepulchre in different bodies fprang a fubdivifion of one of thofe companies, which I fhall now explain. The two Marys and Salome came firft to the fepulchre; and as they drew near, lifting up their eyes, perceived that the stone, which was very great, was rolled away from the entrance; upon fight of which, Mary Magdalene, concluding that the body of Jefus was taken away, ran immediately to acquaint Peter and John with it, leaving her two companions at the fepulchre. That he was alone when the came to thofe two Apoftles, is ftrongly implied by the whole tenor of that paffage in St. John, where this fact is related, as I have already observed; and that the left her companions at the fepulchre, is as evident from what St. Mark fays of their entering into the fepulchre, &c. The reafon of which probably was this: the knew that Joanna and her company would not be long before they came thither, and might therefore think it proper to defire the other Mary, and Salome, to wait for them there, to inform them that they had found the ftone rolled away, &c. and that he was gone to acquaint Peter and John with it: but whether this, or any other reafon, was the cause of Mary Magdalene's going by herself to Peter and John, and the other two women ftaying behind at the fepulchre, is not very material to enquire; all I contend for is, that fo it was; and that hence arofe the fubdivifion of this company, that gave occafion to two appearances of Angels, and as many of Chrift, and confequently multiplied the proofs and witneffes of the refurrection.

I hope by this time it is fufficiently evident, that the facts related by the feveral women to the Apostles were different and diftinct facts and therefore I think it unneceffary to enter into any farther argument upon that point. And although, in the beginning of my observations upon this chapter of St. Luke, I noted fome particulars wherein this ftory of Joanna differs from that of the

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other women, and promifed to make fome remarks upon them; yet, for the laft-mentioned reafon, I dare fay I fhall be eafily acquitted of my promise, especially as thofe marks of difference are fo obvious and ftriking, that little more need be done than pointing them out to obfervation, I muft, however, beg leave to obferve, that the pofition relating to the Angels appearing and difappearing as they thought proper, laid down in my remarks upon St. John, is farther proved by the manner mentioned here in Saint Luke, which is implied to have been fudden, not only by the force and import of the expreffion, but by the remarkable circumftance of their not being feen by the women at their entering into the fepulchre.

$7. Though the following paffage of this chapter relating to Chrift's appearance to the Difciples at Emmaus hath been already produced in part, yet I think it proper to infert it entire in this place, that, by the reader's having it all before him at once, he may be better able to judge of the observation I intend to make upon it.

"And behold two of them went that fame day to a village called "Emmaus, which was from Jerufalem about three-score furlongs ; " and they talked together of all thofe things that had happened. "And it came to pafs, that while they communed together, and " reafoned, Jefus himself drew near, and went with them; but "their eyes were holden, that they should not know him. And "he faid unto them, What manner of communications are thefe, that ye have one to another, as ye walk and are fad? And one of them, whofe name was Cleopas, anfwering, faid "unto him, Art thou only a ftranger in Jerufalem, and haft not "known the things which are come to pafs there in these days?' "And he faid unto them, What things?' And they faid unto "him, Concerning Jefus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, "mighty in deed and word before God, and all the people; and how

the chief priefts and our rulers delivered him to be condemned "to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had "been he which fhould have redeemed Ifrael: and, befide all this,

to-day is the third day fince these things were done. Yea, and "certain women alfo of our company made us aftonished, which were early at the fepulchre; and when they found not his body, they came, faying, that they had alfo feen a vifion of angels, "which faid that he was alive: and certain of them which were "with us went to the fepulchre, and found it even fo as the wo66 men had faid: but him they faw not.' Then he said unto them,

O fools, and flow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have "fpoken! Ought not Chrift to have fuffered these things, and to "enter into his glory?' And beginning at Mofes and all the pro"phets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone farther: But they constrained him, faying, Abide with us, for

"it

it is towards evening, and the day is far fpent. And he went in "to tarry with them. And it came to pafs, as he fat at meat with "them, he took bread and bleffed it, and brake and gave to them. "And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished "out of their fight. And they faid one to another, Did not our "hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and "while he opened to us the Scriptures?' And they rofe up the "fame hour, and returned to Jerufalem, and found the eleven ga "thered together, and them that were with them, faying, The "Lord is rifen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.' And they told "what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them "in breaking of bread."

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Whoever reads this story over with any degree of attention, and confiders the fubject of the converfation which our Saviour held with the two difciples upon the road to Emmaus, will perceive that it must have arisen from what the angels had faid to the women related in the preceding verfes of this chapter. To fet this matter in the cleareft light, we will put the feveral parts together. The angels faid to the women who came to embalm the body of Jefus, "He "is not here, but is rifen. Remember how he spake unto you, "when he was yet in Galilee, faying, The fon of man must be "delivered into the hands of finful men, and be crucified, and the "third day rife again.' The words of our Saviour referred to by the angels are thefe (Luke xviii. ver. 31-33): "Then he took unto him the twelve, and faid unto them, Behold we go up to "Jerufalem, and all things that are written by the prophets con"cerning the fon of man fhall be accomplished. For he fhall be "delivered unto the Gentiles, and fhall be mocked, and fpitefully "entreated, and fpitted on; and they fhall fcourge him, and put "him to death; and the third day he fhall rife again." The words of the angels these two difciples had heard from the women before they left Jerufalem; and as they were walking towards Emmaus, and talking over the wonderful things that had come to pass, they seem at last to have fallen into a debate upon the fubject of thefe words, and the prophecies referred to by them, juft as our Saviour drew near. That they were engaged in fome argument or disquifition, I infer, not only from the Greek word ouge, which fignifies to difcufs, examine, or inquire, together; but from our Saviour's queftion, who, apparently, having overheard fome part of their difcourfe, afks them, Τινες οἱ λόγοι ὗτοι ὃς ἀντιβάλλελε πρὸς ἀλλήλες ; "What arguments are thefe, that ye are debating one with ano"ther, while ye walk and are fad ?" The fubject of their argument appears in their answer to this queftion, in which they give him to underftand that they were reafoning upon the things that had come to pass concerning Jefus of Nazareth, "whom," say they, "alluding plainly to the words of the angels, "the chief priefts "and our rulers have delivered to be condemned to death, and have "crucified him." And hence arifes all our fadness, for " we trufted "that it had been He which fhould have redeemed Ifrael, and

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over and above all these things, to-day is the third day fince these things were done" (another allufion to the words of the angels); and to-day fome women of our company" astonished us with an account of their having been early at the fepulchre, and, not finding the body of Jefus, having there been told by angels that he was riien from the dead. And fome of our companions, running immediately to the fepulchre, found the report of the women to be true; but him they faw not." The fufferings, and death, and refurrection, of Jefus, were the fubjects of their debates, foretold, as the angels bade them remember, out of the prophets, by Chrift himself; and the fcope of their inquiry was how to reconcile thefe events with the prophecies to which they were referred. Part of them they had feen accomplished in the fuffering and death of Chrift; and that ought to have affured them of the accomplishment of the other part: but either from not understanding, or from a backwardness in believing, all that the prophets had faid, they ftopped fhort of this conclufion. For this ignorance and backwardness Chrift reproves them; afks them whether (according to the prophets)" Chrift ought not to have fuffered these things, and "to enter into his glory, i. e. to rife again; and then beginning at Mofes and all the prophets, he expounds to them in all the "Scriptures the things concerning himself." The connexion is vifible; at the beginning of the chapter the Angels refer the Dif ciples, for the proof of the refurrection, to the prophets; and here, Chrift joining two of thofe Difciples on the road, is, by their discourse upon that fubject, led to explain thofe prophecies, and prove from them that the Meffiah was certainly rifen from the dead. And in the like manner is the remaining part of this chapter, to verfe the 46th, connected with this and the preceding. For thefe two Difciples returning to Jerufalem, relate to the Apoftles and the reft, whom they found gathered together, what had paffed between Chiift and them upon the road to Emmaus; and while they were speaking, Chrift himself appears; and, after having given them fenfible proofs of his being rifen from the dead, reminds them, as the angel had done, of the words which he fpake unto them in Galilee, faying, "Thefe are the words which I fpake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Mofes, and in the Prophets, and in the Pfalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might underftand the Scriptures; and faid unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Chrift to fuffer, and to rife from the dead "the third day."

The connexion and dependence of the several parts of this chapter upon each other, point out to us the reafon that induced St. Luke to relate the vifion of the two angels to Joanna and the other women; and at the fame time prove that vifion to be diftinct and different from those feen by the Marys; each of which had, in like manner, its separate and peculiar reference to other facts, as will presently be feen.,