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From their

Courage.

Bufinefs to fecure the Body from being Stolen away; if asleep, then your own Words difprove you, fince, in this Condition, it was impoffible for you to know, either what was done, or who were the Perfons that did it. And indeed, well may the Guards be ask'd, how they came to be fo punctual in relating what happen'd when they were afleep, and what induced them to believe, that the Body was ftolen at all; what, that it was ftolen by the Disciples; when according to their own Confeffion, they could fee nothing that pafs'd.

iThat the Romans, whofe Military Difcipline was fo extremely ftrict, fhould neglect their Poft upon fo extraordinary an Emergency, is hardly allowable; but, fuppofing they did, how can we imagine, that the Difciples fhould ever engage in fo defperate a Defign, as stealing away their Mafter's Body? For are not these the very Men, who, upon the firft Affault in the Garden, all forfook him? They durft not stand by him even then, when he declar'd it in his Power to call for twelve Legions of Angels for his Refcue; and have they now the Confidence to come in a Body, and bear away his Corpfe? It is incongruous to believe, that they, who durft not fo much

Stanhope's Epift, and Cofp. vol. 2. p. 599.

much as appear in publick, but affembled privately, and fhut up their Doors for fear of the Jews, fhould invade a ftrong Guard, and, all on a fudden grow fo valiant, or rather fool-hardy, as to attempt a Detachment of armed Men (whofe Order and Business it was to expect, and be provided for them) when he, in whom they trufted, was dead, and when the ftouteft of them all (even while he was yet alive) trembled at the Voice of a filly Servant-wench, and was forced to have recourfe to Falfhood and Perjury, to deliver himfelf from the Danger of her inquifitive Tongue.

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practica

But let us fuppofe further, that the The In Difciples had Courage enough for fo bleness of defperate an Undertaking; yet what the thing. Hopes could they have of fucceeding in it? A dead Body is not remov'd by Slight of Hand, it requires many Hands to do it; and the Stone, at the Mouth of the Sepulchre, was to be taken away, which could not be done filently, and by Men walking on Tip-toes to prevent Discovery. So that if the Guards had really been afleep, yet there was no Encouragement to go upon the Enterprize; for 'tis hardly poffible to fuppofe, but that rolling away the Stone, moving the Body, and the Hurry and Confufion of

The Trial of the Witneffes, p. 43.

And the

of carrying it off, must have awaken'd

them.

1 But fuppofing the thing practicable, Folly of it. yet the Attempt was fuch, as the Difciples, confiftently with their own Notions, could not undertake. They had promised themselves, in their Master's Lifetime, to fee him become a Temporal Prince; and to fit on his Right and on his Left-hand had been the Matter of fome of their Petitions: But now, that they had seen him dead, and laid in the Grave, they gave up all for loft, and, what the forrowful Disciple, in his Way to Emmaus, fays, was the general Sentiment of them all, m We trusted that it had been he, which should have deliver'd Ifrael. And if fuch was their Defpondency, for what End or Reason fhould they attempt to fteal away his Body? Did they expect to make a King of the dead Body, if they could but get it in. to their Power? Or did they think, that, if they had it, they could raise it to Life again? If they trufted fo far to their Master's Prediction, as to expect his Refurrection (which I think is evident they did not) yet it is too gross to fuppofe, that they were fo far bereav'd of common Senfe, as to fancy that his Refur

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Stanhope's Epift. and Gofp. vol. 2. p. 600. Luke xxiv. 21. The Trial of the Witnesses, P-44

Refurrection depended upon having the dead Body in their Poffeffion. And yet fome fuch extravagant Suppofition, as this, must be admitted, before we can conceive, why they ran fuch a vifible Hazard for that, which, when obtain'd, could avail them nothing.

But admitting that the Disciples were From the both bold enough, and foolish enough Condition,

in which

to attempt the thing; yet the Circum- theSepulftances, wherein the Sepulchre was left, chre was are a fufficient Proof, that the Removal found. of the Body was none of their Handywork. Robberies, we know, are committed in hafte, and every Moment is tedious to Men under Apprehenfions of Discovery. If therefore the removing of the Body had been their Work, and they had watch'd their Opportunity for it, when the Centinels were afleep; yet certainly they would have taken it away, as it was, without ftaying to unbind and undrefs it. For do Thieves, after they have rifled an House, ufe to spend time in putting things in order again? And is it not agreeable to all the Reason in the World, that thefe Perfons would have been rather follicitous to make their Escape, than to ftrip the Corpfe, to fold up the Clothes, and to lay them apart from one another, in their

; John xx. 5, &c.

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their proper proper Places? The Cuftom of In→ terment among the Jews, we know, was to roll the dead Body P (as we read our Saviour's was)up in Spices, which,though they preferved it in fome measure from Corruption, yet, by their glêwy Nature, could not but make the Clothes, that were used with them, cling so close to the Skin, as not to be drawn off without a great deal of Time and Difficulty. When therefore thefe Coverings were found, regularly pull'd off, wrapped up, and laid by, this plainly fhews, that the removing of Jefus's Body was a work of Leifure and Deliberation, and fuch, as, by no means, agrees with the Confufion and Hafte of Things done by Stealth nor can it enter into any fober Man's Thoughts, that they, who came privily, and in Danger of their Lives, fhould thus venture the awakening of the Guard, and trifle away their time in fuch hazardous and unneceffary Niceties.

Thefe, and many more Circumftances of the like Nature, are Conviction enough, that the Disciples were not concerned in ftealing away their Mafter's Body. And, if we purfue their History a little farther, we fhall find, that even the Perfons, who firft accused them with it,

John xix, 39, 40

did,

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