the most extensive sense, or restricted to Judæa. The early Christian writers appeal to the Roman archives in confirmation of the fact, which they consider as universal; but the expression does not necessarily mean more than the whole land of Judæa, and the darkness was probably like that brought by Moses upon Egypt. The rending of the veil which threw open to view the inner sanctuary, intimated that the Mosaic dispensation was done away, since the great High Priest hath entered into heaven, of which this building was typical; and that believers now have the privilege of coming by the new and living way, the veil of Christ's flesh; and to draw as nigh to God on his mercy seat at all times, as the high priest did on one day in the year. As Christ the true victim expired at the time of evening sacrifice, some of the priests must have been present; yet we do not hear that any were affected by the prodigy. The third sign was an earthquake, which rent the rocks and threw open graves; out of which, (but not till after the resurrection of Him who was the firstfruits of the dead,) "the bodies of departed saints arose, and appeared unto many." Commentators are not agreed whether they were saints of past ages, or persons who had lately died. The latter seems most probable; for David is soon after mentioned by Peter (Acts ii. 29.) as still buried; and we can hardly suppose if the saints of the former dispensation. had risen, that he would have been left in the grave; besides, the resurrection of personal acquaintance would more effectually confirm the faith of believers. The multitude, we find, rightly interpreted these prodigies as testimonies from God to the innocence of Jesus, and came away from the execution with the strongest demonstrations of sorrow; for their rage, which had been artfully raised, had given place to regret and self reproach. The Mosaic law requires that the bodies of persons hanged should be taken down on the same day; nor was it a Roman custom in ordinary cases to deny them the rites of sepulture. Ulpian, on the Duties of a Proconsul, states, that the bodies of executed malefactors ought to be given up to their relatives; and Tiberius's withholding them is represented by Tacitus and Suetonius as one of his uncommon cruelties. The approaching sabbath was a great festival, on which the first sheaf of the harvest was reaped, and from which the fifty days to the feast of weeks was reckoned. The Rulers therefore waited upon Pilate to request that the legs of these persons might be broken to hasten their deaths, that they might be removed. Thus our Lord's enemies were instrumental to the fulfilment of his promise to the penitent thief, FF that he should that day be with him in paradise; and their not breaking his limbs was an additional evidence that he had already expired. Even if he had been then alive, the wound of the lance, which is supposed to have penetrated the pericardium or case of the heart, in which there is generally water, would have produced death. St. John, who saw it given, wishes to impress the fact upon the reader's mind; and from the mode in which, in his epistle, he refers to the water and blood which gushed out of the Redeemer's side, shows, that he considered them as emblematical of the two-fold salvation wrought for believers by his death: I mean both from the punishment and the dominion of sin; in other words, justification and sanctification. At this time was verified in the true paschal Lamb the injunction, 66 a bone of it shall not be broken;" and this command is quoted, that we may learn that the minutest points of the ceremonial law were previously contrived in order to direct the spiritual worshipper to Christ. Isaiah had foretold what appeared to be incompatible, that the Messiah should suffer an ignominious death, and yet receive an honourable interment. Both predictions were, however, accomplished in Jesus. Two men of rank and fortune, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathæa, disregarding the shame of the cross, even before their master's resurrection had shed a glory over it, testified openly their respect by requesting his body from the governor; while the apostles, with the exception of John, were afraid of shewing themselves. The request was granted; and as Joseph had prepared for himself a sepulchre in the vicinity of Calvary, that circumstance, as well as the approach of the Sabbath, decided where they should deposit the remains of Jesus. Had the tomb been distant, they would naturally have taken the corpse in the first instance to a friend's house; and as the Sabbath was coming on, it must have remained where it was till the day of rest was over. It was certainly, we may affirm, a providential concurrence of circumstances that induced them to take it directly from the cross to the place which best suited the event that was reserved for the third day, where it was left under the custody of enemies, who by the very precautions they took to prevent imposition, provided decisive evidence of the fact of the resurrection. Whatever was requisite to fulfil the prediction, "With the rich man was his tomb," was done, and no more; for the body was not embalmed; that last tribute of respect was intended, and it was for that purpose that the women visited the sepulchre so early in the morning of the resurrection. Pre viously, however, Nicodemus and Joseph brought no less than a hundred pounds weight of a mixture of myrrh and aloes,* on a bed of which they laid the corpse, and swathed it in linen bandages with these dry spices. Having then rolled against the tomb a large stone, they withdrew, as did Mary Magdalene and Mary the wife of Cleophas, the virgin's sister, who had sat over against it till the Sabbath admonished them to retire. As Zebedee's wife, Salome, though generally mentioned with them, is not named on this occasion, it is a reasonable conjecture that she was in attendance upon our Lord's mother; and had, with the beloved disciple, prevailed upon her to leave the afflicting spectacle of his sufferings, soon after he had consigned her to his care as a son. These women were then too much absorbed in sorrow to make any preparation for the embalmment; consequently they could not (the Sabbath intervening) procure spices till after sunset on Saturday evening; whereas Joanna and their other friends might have been ready with their share before the Sabbath commenced. The observation, that the tomb was a new one, and hewn out of a rock, is not a trivial one, for it shews that there could be no other entrance through which a body might be secretly conveyed away; and as no other had been ever deposited in it, there could be no doubt of the identity of the person that rose again. *The aloes mentioned here and in Psalm xlv. was not the purgative drug now known by that name, but an aromatic gum. + We learn, both from the history of King Asa, in the Old Testament, (2 Chron. xvi. 14.) and of Herod the Great in Josephus, (book xxxiii.) that at grand funerals the Jews were accustomed to lay the deceased upon a bed filled with spices, part of which was afterwards burnt at his burial. LECTURES ON THE DIATESSARON. PART VII. THE resurrection being the fact upon the truth of which Christianity rests, the evidence of its reality, as might have been expected, has been recorded by all the Evangelists. To the fact itself there was no human witness; nor do we know the precise hour when Jesus broke the bonds of death. We learn, however, from Mark xvi. 9. that it was (gw) early in the morning, and before sun rise, for the women who set out for the tomb, while it "was yet dark-as it began to dawn," found it open, and were informed by angels that Jesus was risen. Mary Magdalene was the first that was honoured with a sight of the Lord after he arose: soon after he shewed himself to the other women; so that they proclaimed the joyful tidings which revived all their hopes, to the apostles themselves; and perhaps they were distinguished by this preference, because the women both stood by at the crucifixion, and were then designing to pay him the only mark of respect and affection in their power; whereas the men had all forsaken him in the hour of his distress. Each Evangelist records, it may be presumed, what made most impression upon his own mind; but as their accounts are brief, and told with different circumstances, it has been found a task of no slight difficulty to blend the whole into one consistent narrative. The arrangement of West is, I believe, now generally adopted the Diatessaron in this section deserts Archbishop Newcome's Harmony to follow his, as modified by Townson; and Doddridge candidly acknowledges that he prefers it to his own scheme. Its peculiarity consists in the supposition, that the women went in two divisions to the |