in your hearts,” έως 8 ήμερα διαύγαση, και φωσφόρος ανατείλη εν καρδίαις υμων.

That must be the meaning of the text in Matt. xxviii. 1, "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." With which I suppose to be parallel, Mark xvi. 1, 2, " And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun."

I beg leave to refer you to Grotius. And I intend to transcribe below the observations of Keuchenius, which appear to me to be very material.

I allow your interpretation of Luke xxiii. 54, to be right. But there the word, eлepwake, is used figuratively, and improperly, though elegantly, and significantly enough. I say improperly, for you yourself say, p. 621, That according to its primary meaning, doubtless, the word includes the notion of light gradually increasing.'

However, after all, you say, that this journey of which you are here speaking, though undertaken, was not performed.

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You proceed therefore at p. 622, 623, For these reasons 'I think it probable, that the two Marys attempted to visit 'the sepulchre, in the end of the Jewish sabbath, or about the setting of the sun, on our Saturday evening. I say, attempted to visit the sepulchre, because it does not ap'pear that they actually went thither. While they were 'going, there was a great earthquake. This earthquake, I 'suppose, frightened the women to such a degree, that they immediately turned back. Or their return may have been ' rendered necessary by a storm, if this earthquake was attended with a storm- -The guards, it is true, remained at * Matt. xxviii. 1. Τη επιφώσκεση εις μιαν σαββάτων, &c. Bene monuit vir illustris H. Grotius, phrasim hanc passim de solis luce usurpari. Ad quam sententiam adstruendam non possum non producere insignem locum, qui occurrit Neh. viii. 3. ubi Esras in libro legis fertur legisse a luce usque ad medium diei. Quod LXX. Senes hoc modo vertunt: Kai avɛyvo EV AVTY ATTO TRY ώρας τε διαφωτισαι τον ήλιον έως ήμισες της ημερας. Unde liquet, Interpretes hos per lucem,' non nisi solis lucem' vel ortum intellexisse. Conf. lxx. ad Job xxxi. 16. Et sane non diluculum, sed solis' potius ortum,' hac locutione designari, ex re ipsâ manifestum est. Dicitur enim Esras coram populo legisse, 'a luce.' Quod non tam facile a primâ lucis apparitione, quam a solis ortu factum fuisse, percipi potest. Quapropter arbitror, phrasim hanc idem fere significare, quod apud Marcum cap. xvi. 2. diav πрwï, τns μaç σaßβατων ανατείλαντος τε ήλιο. Pet. Keuchen. in Ν. Τ. p. 157.

the sepulchre all the while. But there was a great difference between the tempers of the persons

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That these women did not go, you argue in this manner, in the notes, at p. 624, It is true,' Matthew says, that the ⚫ women 66 came to see the sepulchre." But the word noe, ' which he makes use of, does not imply that they arrived at the sepulchre. All, who understand the Greek, know 'that ce signifies to go, as well as to come. See Mark 'vii. 31; Luke ii. 44, in the original.'

Well, let us look into Mark vii. 31. “And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis." But how is this to your purpose? Translate he went, instead of he came; still he actually arrived at the place here spoken of, the "sea of Galilee." He did not attempt only, but he went.

Again, Luke ii. 44, "But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went, nov, a day's journey." Allowing that to be the right reading, still Joseph and Mary did actually go " a day's journey," and not attempt it only.

So it must be here also. "At the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came, [or went] Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre." They did go. Consequently, the journey attempted, but not performed,' at the setting of the sun, is a fiction, without any foundation; for St. Matthew speaks of a journey, or visit to the sepulchre, which these women actually made, early in the morning. Which visit shall be observed by and by, as related by the evangelists.

For the present, I stay a while, to make some reflections. For, sir, I cannot forbear to complain of you, and expostulate with you. Is this to do honour to the sacred history? In support of this fictitious journey, attempted, but not 'performed,' you have made many suppositions, without any authority from the evangelists. I shall observe some of them as distinctly as I can, in so perplexed an argument as yours is.

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Supp. 1. You say, From John xix. 42, it would appear 'that the friends of Jesus intended to carry him somewhere ' else,' p. 620.

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Supp. 2. You suppose that the women knew this. Your words, in the same page, are: The women knowing this, had reason to think that Joseph would remove the body as soon as the sabbath was ended.'

Where is your authority for these suppositions? If the friends of Jesus intended to carry him somewhere else, and

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the women knew this, that intention would have manifested itself when the women came to the sepulchre, and missed the body; or when John and Peter came thither, and likewise found not the body. If they had before known, that such a removal was intended by any of their own number, or by Joseph, they would not have been in such surprise at not finding the body, as they were. Some of them would presently have said: The body indeed is gone. But we need not be very uneasy about it. Undoubtedly Joseph has removed it to some other place, and taken good care ' of it. Let us therefore go to him and inquire.' But no such speeches as these drop from any of them. When Mary Magdalene had been at the sepulchre, and saw the stone to be taken away, and the body not within: "she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them; They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre. And we know not where they have laid him," John xx. 1, 2. She did not suppose that to have been done by friends, but by strangers, whom she knew nothing of. And Peter, as related by St. Luke, xxiv. 12," ran to the sepulchre, and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed wondering in himself at that which was come to pass."

Nevertheless this notion of the intention of Joseph, or the disciples, to remove the body elsewhere, has taken such possession of your mind, that in your argument to support the early attempted journey, you impute to the women an apprehension, that the body had been removed even during the sabbath, and before it ended. For you say, p. 621, It ' is much more probable that by appointment of the rest, ' and in conformity to their own inclinations, the two set out 'for the sepulchre on Saturday evening, according to our form of the day, perhaps, at about six or seven at night.' And, p. 620, Accordingly, having bought the spices, they 'judged it proper to send two of their number, to see if Jesus was still in the sepulchre, and if not, to inquire of 'the gardener where he was laid.' And at the top of p. 621, you ask, 'What reason can be assigned for the women's not going to see the sepulchre, as soon as the Jewish sab'bath was ended, that is, on Saturday, immediately after 'sun-setting, when they had more than an hour's twilight 'to carry them thither? And at the bottom of p. 622, you suppose this visit was attempted, In the end of the Jewish

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And just before, at the top of p. 620, you say, The women went to "see the sepulchre,” (Sɛwpnoaɩ,) to see if the stone was still at the door, because by that they could know whether the body was within.'

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'sabbath, or about the setting of the sun, on our Saturday ' evening.'

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Therefore, before their setting out, which, according to you, was as soon as the Jewish sabbath was ended, immediately after sun-setting, or about the setting of the sun,' they had a suspicion that Joseph had already removed the body, and were in great doubt about it; but, if at that time they had any suspicion or doubt whether the body was still in the sepulchre,' they must have had a suspicion, that it had been removed by Joseph, before the sabbath was over. But I apprehend, that none could admit in their minds any suspicion, that a pious Jew (as Joseph certainly was) would remove a dead body on the sabbath day.

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Supp. 3. p. 623, While they were going, there was a great earthquake.' For this you have no authority from the gospels. The women, as you say, set out for the sepulchre at about six or seven in the evening, immediately after 'sun-setting.' But there is no reason to think from St. Matthew, or any other evangelist, that there was an earthquake at Jerusalem at that time. The earthquake, of which you speak, must have happened soon after the women set out, near Jerusalem, and early in the evening, which seems not to be the time of the earthquake mentioned by St. Matthew.

Supp. 4. You say, p. 624, This earthquake, I suppose, ' terrified the women to such a degree, that they immediately ' turned back. Yet the guards remained at the sepulchre 'all the while.' Suppositions for which there is no ground; for there is no intimation in the gospels that any of the women followers of Jesus were affrighted by an earthquake; nor that the Roman soldiers stayed near the sepulchre, after the earthquake mentioned by St. Matthew, which is the only earthquake spoken of at all about this season. Nor is it said, that the soldiers were seen by the women, or by the disciples, who came to the sepulchre, early in the morning.

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Supp. 5. You say, at p. 625, That the angel's appearance was ushered in with a great earthquake and a storm, 'which lasted several hours.' I do not see any intimation of this long storm in the gospels. It is a contrivance of yours, to support your fictitious journey, begun and attempted, but not finished, early in the evening, soon after sun-setting. The earthquake mentioned by St. Matthew, was sudden and instantaneous, or, however, of no long dura

tion, immediately preceding or accompanying the appearance of the angel.

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Supp. 6. In arguing for this imaginary journey, you suppose, that for a while the weather was cloudy and rainy. Your words at p. 621, are, To conclude, it cannot be said, that this journey was too great to be undertaken in the ' evening for the sepulchre was nigh to the city, John xix. 20. It may be said indeed, that it was always full moon ' at the passover: and therefore that the middle of the night was as proper a season for their visit as any. It would not, however, be a proper season, if the weather was either rainy or cloudy then, as it seems actually to have been. This I gather from John xx. 1, where we are told, that in the morning, when Mary Magdalene came to the sepul'chre, it was dark.'

But those words "early [or in the morning] when it was yet dark,” πρωὶ σκοτίας ετί εσης denote no more, than that it was not yet full day-light, or that the sun was not risen, or, according to Dr. Clarke's paraphrase: Very early, before it was yet day-light.' To the same purpose are the two Latin versions of Beza and the Vulgate, which here agree exactly. Maria Magdalene venit mane, cum adhuc tenebræ essent. Those words do not denote the temperature of the air, but the time of the day.

However of the bad weather at that time, you speak also in some other places, particularly p. 643,The storm, the 'earthquake, and the vision that accompanied this astonishing event, had driven the soldiers away from the sepulchre. Impelled therefore by their fears and the weather, they 'would take shelter in the first house they could find. And as they fled away about the time that Jesus arose, they 'would, probably, sleep till morning. Or, though the 'terror they were in hindered them from sleeping, they 'would stay nevertheless, having no inclination to go out in such a stormy night.'

So you are pleased to write. Nevertheless I discern not any intimations in the evangelists what the weather was at that time. And if the evangelists have said nothing about it, we can form no determinations concerning it. And for aught that is said by them during the period of our Lord's lying in the grave, it may have been all calm and serene, till the time appointed for his rising out of it. When on a

d Terræ motus factus est magnus.'] Motus hic signum fuit secuturæ onTarlac, satis notum Judaïco populo. Ps. Ixviii. 8, 9; xcix. 1; cxiv. 6, 7. Grot. ad Matt. xxviii. 2.