47 door of the sepulchre. And Mary Magda

lene, and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.

1

CHAP. XVI.

AND when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they 2 might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre, before the rising of 3 the sun :* And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the 4 door of the sepulchre ?* And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away 5 (for it was very great.) And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; 6 and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid 7 him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him as he said unto you. 8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled, and were amazed: neither did they say any thing to any one; for they were afraid.

9

Now when Jesus was risen early, the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary

* See John xx. 1.

Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven de10 vils. And she went and told them who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that, he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked and went 13 into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

12

14

Afterwards he appeared unto the eleven, as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief, and hardness of heart, because they believed not them who had seen him 15 after he was risen. And he said unto them,

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gos16 pel to every creature. He that believeth, and

is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believ17 eth not, shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak 18 with new tongues; they shall take

19

up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat 20 on the right hand of God.* And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the doctrine with contemporaneous miracles. Amen.

* That is, was endowed with great power. îì. 33, 36.

See Acts

PREFACE TO LUKE'S GOSPEL.

MOST learned men in the Christian church have believed Luke, the writer of this gospel, to be the "beloved physician," mentioned by the apostle Paul, in one of his epistles ; and he is supposed to have been favored with a learned education. Some assert that he was among the first who preached Christ to the heathens. See Acts xiii. 1. It is a common opinion also, that he was a citizen of Antioch, in Syria; and that there he first became acquainted with St. Paul, whom he afterwards accompanied in many of his missionary journies. In the Acts of the Apostles, universally ascribed to him, he speaks as one who attended that apostle in many of his journies to christianise the gentile world. He had, therefore, an opportunity of obtaining a perfect knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel. He informs us that he was also acquainted with those who were eye-witnesses of our Savior's miracles, and from whom he received the account given in his history.

In the introduction to his gospel, St. Luke speaks of other narratives concerning Christ, which he considers imperfect. He certainly does not refer to the gospel of Matthew or Mark, though probably written a short time before his ; for he would not have spoken of them in this manner. The probability is, that when he wrote his gospel he had not seen those of Matthew and Mark; but some very concise and partial accounts, which had been written by those not fully acquainted with the whole history of Christ. We are not to suppose, that these accounts contained any false relations; but only that they were incomplete. This consideration induced him to give a more perfect narrative. And to this he was probably solicited by Theophilus, to whom his gospel and his history of the early labors of the apostles are addressed. This indeed is the reason suggested in the beginning of his gospel. Christian writers of the second and third century were of opinion, that Luke wrote his gospel soon after Matthew and Mark, but without any

knowledge of their histories. He relates many events respecting the birth of John the Baptist, and of our Lord, omitted by the other evangelists; and has preserved some parables spoken by Christ, of which the others make no mention, as that of the prodigal son; of the rich man and Lazarus; of the good Samaritan, &c. It is almost the universal belief that this gospel was written in the Greek language, with which Luke was well acquainted, and which was then the prevailing and popular language of the whole civilized world. Where it was written, is not so certain. Some have supposed at Rome, others, with more probability, that it was written in Achaia in Greece, or at Antioch in Syria, bordering on the east of Greece, the place of the residence of this evangelist.

Though Luke was a man of more learning than the other writers of the evangelical history, and wrote the Greek language with greater purity and elegance than they, he makes no unnecessary parade of learning. He aims at no artificial eloquence. His narration is simple, and natural : and his object appears to have been to relate the miracles and the discourses of his divine Master without exaggeration, and without eulogy. In writing his gospel, it is supposed he had the assistance of St. Paul, with whom he was many years associated in extending the knowledge and blessings of Christianity. It is not probable, however, that he received that direct and personal assistance from St. Paul in writing his gospel, which Mark is supposed to have had from St. Peter in preparing his history. For Luke was acquainted with the immediate apostles of Christ, and with others who had heard his discourses and seen his miraculous works; and from them procured a thorough knowledge of the life and character of our Lord, with the particular design of giving a more correct and complete narrative for the instruction of the believers in Greece, at whose request he prepared this history. This is fully implied in the introduction to his gospel.

Some have maintained that this evangelist was one of the seventy disciples sent out by Christ to teach and preach in the cities of Judea. By others it is said, that this supposition militates with his own declaration, in the beginning of his gospel. Upon careful attention to what is there said, however, we think it will appear, that he has

reference to some others who had given an account of the miracles and doctrines of Christ, when he says, that they wrote what had been delivered unto them by eye-witnesses, &c. and when he adds, as in the third verse of the first chapter, "It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee, in order," &c. Now this expression does, by no means, exelude the idea of the evangelist having had personal knowledge of Christ and of his miracles. He might, indeed, justly use such language, though he derived his information from others, who knew the facts they related. But the original conveys this idea, that "it seemed fit and proper to him, to write a history of Christ, as he had been contemporary with and perfectly acquainted with all persons and events from the first," &c. And we cannot but believe that St. Luke personally enjoyed the favor of hearing and seeing our Lord; and that the natural meaning of his language in this place is this, that much of what he relates he had himself witnessed, and of the other things he was assured by the apostles themselves, with whom he was intimately acquainted.

Before he accompanied Paul, and after he left the apostle upon his first visit to Rome, as related in the last chapter of Acts, St. Luke is supposed to have travelled through various parts of Greece to preach the Gospel: and it is said by some of the ancient ecclesiastical writers, that he died at Ephesus. But there is no precise and satisfactory historical proof of this fact.

Amidst the variety of testimonies from the early Christian writers respecting the gospel of Luke, the following may be sufficient. Irenaeus, as already quoted in the preface to Matthew's gospel, says, "Luke, the companion of Paul, put down in a book the gospel preached by him." Again, he says of this evangelist, that, "he was not only a companion and fellow-laborer of Paul; but of some of the other apostles." Tertullian, a very learned Christian father, speaks thus of Luke "though not an apostle, yet he was apostolical." Origen, another learned doctor in the primitive Christian church, says, "the third gospel is that according to Luke, which St. Paul commended, and which was published for the sake of the Gentile converts." Eusebius, bishop of Cesarea, asserts, that "Luke, who was of Antioch,