not broken, but his side pierced, that that scripture might be fulfilled which saith, "A bone of him shall not be broken;" and that other, " "They shall look on him whom they have pierced."

Among the disciples of Jesus, who beheld his execution, there was one named Joseph of Arimathea, a man remarkable for his birth and fortune, and of fice. Joseph had nothing to fear from the governor, who in the course of the trial had shewed the greatest inclination to release Jesus. But he had reason to fear that this action might draw upon him abundance of ill-will from the rulers, who had been at such pains to get Jesus crucified. Nevertheless the regard he had for his Master overcame all other considerations, and he asked leave to take his body down; because if no friend had obtained it, it would have been ignominiously cast out among the executed malefactors. In discharging the last duty to his Master, Joseph was assisted by another disciple, named Nicodemus, the ruler who formerly came to Jesus by night, for fear of the Jews. But he was not afraid of them now; for he shewed a courage superior to that of the apostles, bringing such a quantity of spices* along with him as was necessary to the funeral of his Master. The two therefore taking down the naked body, wrapped it with the spices in the linen furnished

Spices. Those who have written upon the manners and customs of the Jews tell us, that they sometimes embalmed their dead with an aromatic mixture of myrrh, aloes, and other gums or spices, which they rubbed on the body more or less profusely according to their circumstances, and their regard to the dead. After anointing the body, they covered it with a shroud or winding-sheet, then wrapped a napkin round its head and face; others say, round the forehead only, because the Egyptian mummies are observed to have it so: last of all, they swathed the shroud round the body as tightly as possible with proper bandages made of linen. At other times they covered the whole body in a heap of spices. Thus it is said of Asa, 2 Chron. xvi. 14, They buried him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours, and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art.” From the quantity of myrrh and aloes made use of by Joseph and Nicodemus, viz. an hundred pound weight, it would appear, that the office performed by them to their Master was of this latter kind.

"

by Joseph. They received the body from the cross in the linen cloth, and covered it therewith, for the sake of decency; but in all probability they did not wrap it in the spices till they carried it into the garden, then laid it in Joseph's sepulchre, which happened to be nigh to the place of execution. The Galilean women who had waited on Jesus in his last moments, and accompanied him to the sepulchre, observing that the funeral rites were performed in a hurry, agreed among themselves to come when the sabbath was passed, and embalm their dead Lord, by anointing and swathing him in a proper manner. Accordingly, when the burial was over, they returned to the city, and bought what other spices were necessary for that purpose: Nicodemus having furnished a mixture only of myrrh and aloes. This is not inconsistent with Mark xvi. 1, where we are told, that they bought spices after the sabbath was ended. It seems the quantity which according to Luke had been provided and prepared on the night of the crucifixion, was, after the preparation, judged too small for which reason they went the first day of the week, and bought more. Perhaps the money wherewith they purchased these spices was furnished by Mary Magdalene, one of their own number, who seems. to have been a person of distinction, and had often supplied our Lord with money. Or it might be supplied by Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, if it was her who in the history of Christ's resurrection is mentioned by that name, Luke xxiv. 10.

The chief priests and Pharisees, remembering that Jesus had predicted his own resurrection more than once, came to the governor and informed him of it, begging that a. guard might be ordered to the sepulchre, lest the disciples, should carry his body away, and affirm that he was risen, from the dead. Pilate thinking their request reasonable, allowed them to take as many soldiers as they pleased out of the cohort which at the feast came from the castle An. tonia, and kept guard in the porticos of the temple. For that they were not Jewish, but Roman soldiers, whom the priests employed to watch the sepulchre, is evident from their asking them of the governor. Besides, whenthe soldiers returned with the news of Christ's resurrec

tion, the priests desired them to report that his disciples had stolen him away while they slept: and to encourage them to tell the falsehood boldly, promised, that if their neglect of duty came to the governor's ears, proper means should be used to pacify him, and keep them safe; a promise which there was no need of making to their own servants. "So they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch." The priests going along with the party, placed them in their post, and sealed the stone that was rolled to the door of the sepulchre, to hinder the guards from combining with the disciples in carrying on any fraud.* Thus, while the priests cautiously proposed to prevent our Lord's resurrection from being palmed upon the world, resolving no doubt to shew his body publicly after the third day as an impostor, they put the truth of Christ's resurrection beyond all question, by furnishing a number of unexceptionable witnesses to it, whose testimony they themselves could not refuse.

When the sabbath was over, which ended in the evening, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, who was the mother of James and Joses, and Salome, with Joanna, and some other pious women, were so intent on embalming the body of Jesus, that they had another consultation about it; and not satisfied with the preparation they had made before, they bought more spices and ointments, that after a short repose, as soon as ever they could see to do it, they might go and anoint him with them, and pay him all the respect of an honourable interment.

Now Mary Magdalene, with the other Mary and Salome, were ready before it was day; and setting out very early in the morning, while it was yet dark, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, they went to

* Fraud. See Dan. vi. 17, where we find a precaution of the like kind made use of by Darius in the case of Daniel shut up in the lions' den. "And they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords that the purpose might not be changed concern. ing Daniel."

take a view of the sepulchre, to see if all things were as they had left them and not long after they were followed by Joanna and the rest who were to meet them there, who came at the appointed time, bringing the spices with them. As they were advancing towards the sepulchre, they were not under any apprehension from the soldiers that were set to guard it, who had been stationed there without their knowledge on the sabbath-day, but remembering the stone that was placed at the mouth of it, they said among themselves, "Who shall roll away the stone for us from the door of the sepulchre, which all of us together have not strength to remove?" For they had seen Nicodemus and Joseph stop up the entrance with it; and it was indeed very large and heavy; but this perplexity was altogether needless; for God had provided a very extraordinary way to remove that obstruction: for a lit tle before they arrived there was a great earthquake, which would naturally awaken the guards, if any of them had fallen asleep and very awful and astonishing were the cir cumstances that attended it; "for an angel of the Lord descending from heaven had approached in sight of the guards, and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat down upon it." And, at the very same time, Jesus, like a sleeping conqueror awaking on a sudden, burst asunder the bands of death, and sprung up to a new and immor. tal life. But none of the guards saw him rise, being struck into the utmost consternation at the sight of the angel, who appeared to remove the stone and well indeed they might be so; for his countenance was like the brightness of lightning, and his long-flowing garment was as white as snow, glittering with extraordinary lustre beyond what their eyes could bear. And the guards, though Romans and soldiers, trembled for fear at the sight of him, and became like so many dead men, falling down on their faces in a most helpless condition. But quickly after, presuming to lift up their eyes, and finding he had disappeared, and had left the sepulchre open, they fled to some distant place, to consult their own safety in so surprising

an occurrence.

By this time the women, who had set out as it began to dawn, were near the place; and Mary Magdalene,

transported with the distinguishing ardour of her affec tion, advanced a little before the rest; and, it being now light enough to discern objects, she looked forward, and saw to her great surprise, that the stone was already taken away from the sepulchre, and that the tomb was open. And she was greatly astonished and alarmed at the sight, and presently concluded that the body was removed. She therefore stepped back and informed her companions of this circumstance; upon which they also looked, and plainly found that it was as she represented, and that the stone was indeed rolled away from the entrance of the sepulchre. And not reflecting And not reflecting on the assurance Jesus had given them of his rising again from the dead, they knew not how to account for the removal of the stone; but Mary Magdalene and her companions having consulted a little together, as well as the confusion they were in would admit, it was thought best that some of the disciples should be immediately acquainted with it: she therefore ran back to the city with all possible dispatch, and knowing where they lodged, she comes to Simon Peter, and to John, and finding them already up, and full of so-. licitude about the event of this important day, she says to them, O my friends, the sepulchre is broken open, and some or other must have been there, who have removed the stone; nor is there any room to doubt but they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know. not where they have laid him; so that I, and my companions, whom I have left behind me, cannot find any method of performing that last office of respect and affection which you know we intended.

Upon hearing this, without so much as staying to make any reply, Peter, whose heart was struck with such a circumstance, arose in a transport of various passions, and that other disciple whom we mentioned before, and went directly out, and never stopped till they came to the sepulchre. And not contented with the swiftest pace with which they could walk, they both ran together; and as that other disciple was the younger man, he out-ran Peter who had the start of him at the beginning, and came first to the sepulchre and stooping down to look into it, he