600

Sect. 194.
John XX.

15.

16

17

tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him

away.

JESUS appears to Mary, who at firft does not know him. where the Master of the Sepulchre faw fit fo honourably to lay him but a few Hours ago (0), I earneftly beg thou wouldst immediately tell me where thou haft put him, and I will remove him, and take effectual Care that his Corpfe fhall be decently interred elsewhere, without giving any farther Trouble here.

Jefus on this faid to her, with a loud and diftinct Voice, in his ufual affectionate Way, Mary, doft thou not know me? [And] Mary thereupon turning directly towards him, and eagerly fixing her Eyes upon him, immediately difcovered who it was; and tranfported with a Mixture of unutterable Paffions, fhe faid to him, Rabboni, that is to fay, [My great] Mafter, and Teacher! and fhe could fay no more; but immediately proftrated herself at his Feet to embrace them.

But Jefus faid to her, Touch or embrace me not any longer now, either to pay thine Homage to me, or to confirm thy Faith; both which thou wilt have other Opportunities of doing: For I am not yet withdrawn from your World, and afcended to the Heavenly Court of my Father, as you may perhaps imagine I fhould presently do (p); but I fhall yet for a little while longer continue upon Earth: Go therefore to my dear Brethren,

and

16 Jefus faith unto her, and faith unto him, Rabboni, Mary. She turned herself, which is to fay, Mafter.

17 Jefus faith unto her,

Touch me not: for I am not yet afcended to my Father: but go to my Bre

thren,

to intimate, there was nothing very fplendid in his Drefs: Accordingly when he appeared to the Two Difciples in their Way to Emmaus, they seem to have taken him for a Perfon of a Rank not much fuperior to their own.

(0) Sir, if thou haft borne him hence.] It is obfervable, that she accosts this Stranger in refpectful Language, even when he took him for a Servant; (for unwegos cannot, I think, fignify the Owner of the Garden ;) prudently reflecting, that an Error on that Hand, would be more excufable, than on the other, fuppofing he should have proved one of fuperior Rank in a plain Dress: And also that she does not name Jefus, but fpeaks in indefinite Terms, if thou haft borne him hence; intimating, that he was the one Perfon, of whom her own Thoughts and Heart were fo full, that the took it for granted, every one must know who fhe meant. Such Language in fuch a Circumftance was perfectly natural.If there was any Hedge or Arbour near the Sepulchre, fo that while fhe fpake to Chrift, fhe was not vifible to her Companions; or if this Avenue was such, that while they came up to it, the Sepulchre was between her and them; or if they were now waiting at fome Distance, or coming up with a flower Pace, being charged with the Weight of the Materials for embalming; (any one of which might very poffibly be the Cafe,) a Difficulty which may offer itfelf to the fagacious Reader, in the Difpofition of the followeng Section, when compared with this, will disappear at once.

(p) Touch me not, for I am not yet afcended &c.] Dr. Whitby, (in his Note on this Place,) Mr. Fleming, (Chriftol. Vol. iii. pag. 502.) Mr. Cradock, and others, interpret these Words, as I have done in the Paraphrafe; and it is strange that Mr. Whiston should

He discovers himself, and fends her to tell be is risen. thren, and fay unto them, Iafcend unto my Father and your Father, and to my GOD and to your GOD..

601 and fay unto them, I am rifen from the Dead, Sect. 194. from whence I came; yet grieve not at that Sepa- 17. and am quickly indeed to afcend into Heaven,

HOW

ration, but remember, that as I am going to him
who is in a very peculiar Senfe my Father, fo I
am alfo going to your Friend and your Father,
and [to] my GOD, and your GOD; for fuch he
is now become, thro' that Covenant which he has
established with you in me (9): On the whole
therefore, you have infinitely greater Reason to re-
joice, than to mourn.

And upon faying this, he immediately difap-
peared for the present; and the other Women,
advancing to the Sepulchre, where the Angels
continued, received the News of his Resurrec-
tion from them, and in Conjunction with Mary
Magdalene reported it to the Difciples, with a
Variety of additional Circumftances, which will.
be mentioned in the following Section.

IMPROVEMENT.

OW fit is it, that we should fing unto the Lord a new Song; and with what thankful Hearts fhould we join, on his own Day, and on every Day, to congratulate the Triumph of his rifing from the Dead, and to rejoice in this Birth-Day of our Hopes! Now is the Juf

tice

think this Text inexplicable, unless we fuppofe" that Chrift was immediately to afcend to his "Father, before he could at all converfe with any of them, or receive the Expreffions of "their Homage to him." (See the Appendix to his Sermons at Boyle's Lect. pag. 298,-300.) If there had been any Neceffity for his afcending immediately, he furely would not first have appeared to her, and then to the other Women on their Way to the City. The Interpretation I have given fuits the Words as well, and other Scriptures much better. She probably thought, that if he was rifen, he was alfo returned back to his Heavenly Father, to take up his stated Abode with him again; as he quickly after did: To affure her therefore of the contrary, was exceeding proper, and the best Reason that could be given, to perfuade her to wave any farther Difcourfe now, with which to be fure fhe muft otherwife have been earnestly defirous to detain her dear Lord.To fuppofe with Meffrs. L'enfant and Beaufobre, that he meant this Adoration, as Homage to a Temporal Prince, and that our Lord's Anfwer was chiefly intended, as a Declaration that he must afcend to his Father, before he received bis Kingdom, appears to me very unnatural.

(9) Go to my Brethren, &c.] By calling the Difciples bis Brethren, and GOD their Father and their GOD, he intimates in the ftrongest Manner the full Forgiveness of their Fault, even without ever mentioning it; just as the Father of the Prodigal (Luke xv. 22, &feq.) intimated his Forgiveness, by calling for the beft Robe, &c. without any dire& Reply to what his penitent Child had faid of his Unworthiness to be called his Son.These · exquifite Touches, which every where abound in the Evangelical Writings, give inexpreffible Delight to a well turned Heart, and fhew how perfectly Chrift knew our Frame.

VOL. II.

Gggg

John XX.

602
Reflections on the Refurrection of CHRIST.
Sect. 194.tice of GOD amply fatisfied, or the Prifoner had never been released.
Now is the Reproach of the Cross ceafed, and turned into proportionable
Mat. xxviii. Glory. That Reproach was rolled away at once by the defcending Angel,

who appeared, not to awaken Chrift from his Sleep, or to bring him a New Life, for he had himself a Power when ever he pleased, to refume that which he had voluntarily refigned: (John x. 18.) But he came to add a folemn Pomp to his Revival, and to ftrike the Guards with fuch a Terror, as would effectually prevent any mad Attempt on this glorious Conqueror, when he was bursting the Bonds, in which he had for a while been held.

Oh Lord, we acknowledge the Truth of thy Promife: Thou didst not leave his Soul in Hell, neither didst thou fuffer the Flesh of thine Holy One to fee Corruption. (Pfal. xvi. 10.) Now is Chrift indeed rifen from the Dead, and become the First Fruits of them that flept: (1 Cor. xv. 20.) May we in Conformity to his Holy Example be dead to Sin, and to the World; that like as Chrift was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father, even fo we also may walk in Newness of Life! (Rom. vi. 4.) Then will be that raised up Chrift from the Dead, e'er long quicken our mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us. (Rom. viii. 11.)

Let the Faith of what has been done with Regard to our glorified Head, and fhall at length be accomplished with Respect to all his MemJohn xx. 13. bers, daily gladden our Hearts. When our Eyes are weeping, and our Souls finking within us, let us raise our Thoughts to Jefus, our rifen, and now afcended Redeemer; who fays to all his Brethren these gracious Words, which may juftly fill us with Transports of Astonishment, with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory," I afcend to my Father and your Father, "to my GOD and your GOD."

Ver. 17.

The GOD and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift is now, thro' the Death and Refurrection of his dear Son, (whom by raifing him from the Dead he has fo folemnly owned under that Relation,) become our Father, and our GOD. As fuch let us honour him, love him, and rejoice in him: And when we must leave this World, which Chrift has long fince left, let it delight our Souls to think, that we shall likewise afcend after him, and dwell with him in this propitious Divine Presence. In the mean Time, if we are rifen with Chrift, let us feek thofe Things which are above, where Chrift now fitteth at the Right Hand of GOD; (Col. iii. 1.) and let us be willing, in whatever Senfe GOD fhall appoint, to be made conformable to his Death, that we may also be Partakers of his Refurrection and Glory. (Phil. iii. 10, 11)

SECT.

The other Women come to the Sepulchre at Sun-rifing.

SECT. CXCV.

CHRIST having appeared to Mary, the other Women come
to the Sepulchre, and are informed of his Refurection by
the Angels. He appears to the Women, as they return to
the City; but neither their Teftimony, nor that of Mary, is
received by the Difciples. Mat. XXVIII. 5,
5,—10.
Mark XVI. —2. 5,-11. Luke XXIV.
John XX. 18.

W tion,

MARK. XVI. 9.

3,II.

3,

603

E have just now feen in the preceding Sec- Sect 195. tion, that when [Jefus] was rifen from the Dead, very early on the First Day of the Week, Mark XVI. (which Day was afterwards obferved by his Fol-9. lowers in Commemoration of this important Fact,) be made his first Appearance to Mary Magdalene, out of whom (as was formerly faid,) he had fome Time before ejected no less than Seven Dæmons, who by an awful Providence were permitted to join together in afflicting her. (Compare Luke viii. 2. Vol. i. pag. 370.)

2.

And it is now Time to return to [the other Women] her Companions, from whom he had parted when she went to the Difciples, (pag. 596.) who just in the Moment that she was engaged in this Interview with Christ, came up to the Sepulchre: And it was now about the Time of the Rifing of the Sun (a). And having found the Paffage open, and obferved Luk.XXIV. at a Distance that Peter and John had done the 3. like, they entered into the Sepulchre themselves; but to their great Surprize, they found not the Body of the Lord Jefus.

And

(a) About the Rifing of the Sun.] They fet out while it was yet Dark, and came within Sight of the Sepulchre for the first Time, juft as it grew Light enough to difcern that it was opened; (compare Mat. xxviii. 1. and John xx. I. pag. 593.) but by that Time Mary had called Peter and John, and they had viewed the Sepulchre, which might all pafs in much less than an Hour, the Sun was up. Thefe Circumftances well agree with each other, and 'are Prefumptions in Favour of the Order which we have laid down. Gggg 2

(b) Stepping

604

Sect. 195. Luk.XXIV.

Matth.

-5

4 And it came to pafs, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold [they faw] Two Men [who] ftood by them in thining Garments; [one of them a Young Man, who had been fitting on the Right Side, clothed in a long white Garment.] [MARK XVI.—5.—]

Two Angels appear, and tell them JESUS is rifen;
And it came to pass, that as they were in great
Perplexity on this Account, and knew not what
to think was become of the Body, behold, to their
inexpreffible Astonishment, they faw the Two An-
gels, whom Mary had seen but a little before, (who
had disappeared upon their coming to the Sepul-
chre, but now rendered themselves vifible at once,)
in the Form of Men, arrayed in fplendid Habits,
[who] came and stood by them, the Women being
unable to discover how they came in: And [one of
them] appeared like a Young Man, with a beautiful
and chearful Afpect, clothed in a long white Robe,
glittering with Luftre like the pureft Snow: And this
was the Angel, [who] appeared at first to the Guards,
and [had] fince [been] feen by Mary, fitting on
the Right Side of the Entrance into the Sepul-
chre. And they were greatly terrified at this
extraordinary and furprizing Sight; and stepping
back to the very Door (b), they bowed their Faces
to the Ground, and fixed their Eyes upon it, in To-
ken of the profoundest Refpect (c).

And the Angel in a moft mild and condescending
XXVIII. 5. Manner anfwered and faid unto the Women, Do not
be terrified at what you fee; for we appear to com-
fort rather than afflict you, and have the best Ti-
dings to bring you that ever you heard: I know
that in the Strength of your Affection
you are
come to seek that Holy and Excellent Perfon,
Jefus of Nazareth, who was crucified the other
Day, and buried here: But why feek ye the Liv-
ing among the Dead? and why are you come
hither with Materials for embalming one, who is

pof

5-And [they were affrighted,] and bowed down their Faces to the Earth. [MARK XVI.—5.]

MAT. XXVIII. 5. And the Angel anfwered and said affrighted:] for I know that ye feek Jefus [of Nazareth,] which was crucified: [LUK. Why feek ye the Living among the Dead?] [MARK XVI. 6.— LUKE XXIV.

unto the Women, [Be not

-5.]

(b) Stepping back to the very Door.] This it was natural for them to do; and from the Angel's afterwards inviting them to come in, and view the Sepulchre, we may infer that they were now precisely in this Attitude.

(c) They bowed their Faces to the Ground, and fixed their Eyes upon it, &c.] The Words κλινέσων το πρόσωπον εις την γην, do not intimate their proftrating themselves before the Angels, but a respectful and reverential declining of their Heads, and looking downward, that they might not appear to gaze; which is well known to have been forbidden to the Jews, when GOD appeared to them: (See Exod. xix. 21. and compare Judg. xiii. 20.) And it was alfo confidered as dangerous by the Heathen, when their Deities, or any Celeftial Meffengers from them, were fuppofed to make themselves vifible; as Elfner has finely fhewn in his learned and entertaining Note here. Elfn, Obferv. Vol. i. pag. 284.

(d) Re