ticular time, the concurrent statement of the first three evangelists is invested with much sublimity. Modern writers frequently indulge in poetic description of this nature. On the day when the remains of Murray were exhumed and conveyed to Mount Auburn, it rained. The editor of the "Trumpet," in giving an account of the solemnities, spoke of the "weeping heavens." Rev. Mr. Chapin, in a Fast-Day Sermon, while speaking of the sudden death of President Harrison, (who, it will be remembered, died in just thirty days after his inauguration) exclaims, "One short month-and the Spring rains weep upon his grave!" Similar examples of metaphoric allusion to the ordinary appearances of nature, could be collected for the purpose of more ample illustration; but it seems needless to occupy further time in relation to this subject.

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.

This is recorded by all four of the evangelists, and re-asserted in the book of Acts, and in the Epistles of Paul. There is, however, some disagreement between the several accounts in the Gospels. Matthew alone mentions the occurrence of an earthquake. His account is as follows: "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and *Matt. xxviii. Mark, xvi. Luke, xxiv. John, xx.

rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples, that he is risen from the dead, and behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre, with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word."*

Instead of an "angel," whose "countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow," Mark speaks of “a young man......clothed in a long white garment;" Luke speaks of "two men......in shining garments;" and John's statement is, that there were "two angels in white."

Matthew seems to represent the "angel" he speaks of as sitting upon the stone (which he had rolled back from the door of the sepulchre) when the two Marys arrived at the spot; though we are not certified how long he had sat there. The account is evidently elliptical; and I do not think we should be justified in inferring that the writer meant to say, that the angel rolled the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre after the women had reached the place, but rather (as I construe

* Matt, xxviii. 1-8.

the narration taken as a whole) that he had removed it previously;-though for what length of time previously we have no means of knowing, from any thing that Matthew says on the subject. Mark's "young man" is spoken of as being inside the tomb, "sitting on the right side"; and Luke and John picture their "two men," alias "angels," as also within the sepulchre.

The two following particulars appear from the united accounts of the four writers:

1. Jesus is represented as having arisen in the night,or (what is substantially the same) very early in the morning, and while darkness mantled that region of the globe wherein he had lived, been crucified, and was buried.

2. No human being is in any instance spoken of as having seen him arise.

HIS ALLEGED APPEARANCE TO THE TWO MARYS AND TO HIS DISCIPLES, AFTER HE AROSE.

Matthew speaks of his personally appearing after his resurrection, in only two instances-once to "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary," as they "departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples word" that an "angel" said he had risen; and once to the eleven disciples, on a mountain in Galilee.t

Mark mentions his appearing in three instances—once to Mary Magdalene; once, "in another form," to "two *Matt. xxviii. 8-10. Ibid, 16-20. + Mark, xvi. 9.

of them that had been with him," "as they walked, and went into the country;" and "afterward, unto the eleven as they sat at meat."†

Luke says he appeared twice-first to two of the apostles, who "went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three-score furlongs;"‡ and afterward, in the evening, to all “the eleven," and "them that were with them," "gathered together" in "Jerusalem."§

In the Gospel ascribed to John, Jesus is said to have appeared four times subsequent to his resurrection: in the first instance, to Mary Magdalene, as she "stood without at the sepulchre, weeping;"|| secondly, "the same day, at evening," to the disciples, "when the doors were shut," where they "were assembled, for fear of the Jews;" thirdly, "after eight days," to the same disciples, who were again assembled, (in the same place as before, we may perhaps rightly infer, though we are not expressly so informed) at which time Thomas, previously absent, was now with them ;** and the fourth, "to the disciples," on the shore of the sea of Tiberias;†† when, as the account seems to imply, he wrought a miracle. At least, the copious draft of fishes then taken was as miraculous as the similar occurrence mentioned in the fifth chapter of Luke.

This last-named appearing is mentioned only in the so-called twenty-first chapter of John; which chapter

* Mark, xvi. 10, 12. John, xx. 11-16.

+ Ibid, 14.
Ibid, 19.

Luke, xxiv. 13. §lbid, 33-36. ** Ibid, 26. tt Ibid, xxi. 1-4.

was regarded by GROTIUS and LE CLERC, two very eminent scholars, as having been written by some other person than John, and added to his Gospel.* Do you ask who these men were, and in what repute they have been held by those who have dissented from them in opinion, on some points? The first-named personage, Grotius, was a native of Holland, born in 1583. To his acquirements and ability, Dr. Adam Clarke, in the General Preface to his Commentary on the Bible, bears the following testimony: "His learning was very extensive; his erudition profound; and his moderation on subjects of controversy highly praiseworthy. No man possessed a more extensive and accurate knowledge of the Greek and Latin writers; and no man has more successfully applied them to the illustration of the sacred writings." The second individual mentioned (Le Clerc) was born at Geneva, in 1657. He was, at the time of his death, a professor of philosophy, belles lettres and the Hebrew language, in Amsterdam. Bishop Watson styles him "a very able theological critic."+

In Luke's account of an interview between Jesus (after his resurrection) and the two disciples who journeyed towards Emmaus, the former is represented as quoting and applying to himself various portions of the Old Testament Scriptures. "Beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."‡

*See Campbell's Notes, last page Vol. ii.

+ Apology for the Bible, Letter ii. 11. Luke, xxiv. 27.