252 The Evidence o Vol. II. to Death, for the full Convi&4ion of his Enemies and Murderers, and the Con- verfion of that wholeNation, to whom he was primarily fent. In confidering his feveral Appearances, not only to his Apostles, but to his other Difciples and Followers, that I may give the fhorteft and fulleft View of them, I {hall take them as they are briefly fum'd up bySt. Pant, r Car. 15.4., Oc. where giving an Account of the Sum of his Do&rine among the Corinthians, he tells us, that the Foundationof all his Preaching was the Deathand Refurreetion of Chrilt.. I delivered unto you firft of all, that which I alfo received, how the Chr f diedfor our Sins according to the Scriptures, and that hewas buried, and that he rote again the ThirdDay according to the Scriptures. And then follows the par- ticular Evidence of his Refurre&ion, Ver. g. And that he was feen of Cephas. St. Paul here takes no Notice of his fist, Appearance to the devout Women,who brought Spices and Ointments to the Sepulchre, Mary Magdalen, andYoanna, and Mary the Mother of fames, and other Women, as we find Luke 24.1o. The Reafon of which feems to be this, becaufe his firft Appearance was in Confideration of their Piety and Affe&ion to him, and of the Weaknefs of their Sex, their Faith being liable to be firft ftaggered ; and they were only to relate it to the Apo- ftles, and to be honoured with carrying the firft News of it, not to be Wit- nefíes of it to the World; fo that this Appearance was only for the private Confirtnationof their Faith, and therefore not particularly taken Notice of by St. Paul among the publickEvidences of Chrift'sRefurre&ion. He was feen of Cephas. This is mention'd Luke 24.34 The Lord is rifen indeed, andbath appeared to Simon. St. Pad goes on ; And thenof the Twelve. The College of the Apostles, becaufe their Number was Twelve by our Saviour's Inftitution, are moft frequently called the Twelve,tho' at force Meetings forneone of themmightperhaps be abfent : 'Tis true there was a lhort Interruption by the Mifcarriage of yudas, from the Time ofour Saviour's Apprehenfion to his Afcenfion, and then they are called the Eleven, as before, and after they are called the Twelve ; yea at this firft Ap- pearance of our Saviour to them, when they werebut Ten, Thomas beingabfent, . they are called the Eleven, Mark a 6 . 14. He appeared to the Eleven as they fat at Meat; becaufe they were then but Eleven 'in all. And indeed in this Text of St. Paul, both the vulgar Tranflation, which certainly follows a very ancient Copy, and St. Ambrofi there, inftead ofTwelve, render it Eleven; fo that St. Paul probably means our Saviour's firft Appearance to them, mentioned by St. Mark, where they are alfo called the Eleven, tho' Thomas was abfent; which is theRea- fon why St. Paul fays afterwards, at the 7th herfe, that he was feen of all the Apofiles,.that is, Thomas alfo being prefent, as I (hall (hewby and by. After that, he was feen of above Five hundred Brethren at once. This was the moft folemn Appearance of all, mentioned plat. 28. ro. and yohn 21. 1. where our Saviour, appointed a general Meeting of all his Difciples and Followers. Go tell my Brethren, that they go into Galilee, and there they (hallfee me. Ver. 16. They went into Galilee, into a Mountain, where Jefus had appointed them. This Mountain, according to the ancient Tradition, was Mount Thabor. There is one confiderable Difficulty concerning the Greatnefs of this Number of Five hundred; namely, that after ourSaviour's Afcenfion, we find, Ater 1. 1S. that after their Return from Mount Olivet (from whence our Saviour afcended) to Yerufalem, the whole Number of their Meeting was but an Hundred and twenty, for fo it is exprefly faid, The Number of the Names together, were about an Hundred and twenty; that is, of the Perfons there met. Now we cannot rea- fonably fuppofe, that anyof thofe Five hundred, who had feen him after his Refurre&ion, were fallen off from them. For the clear Solution of this, it is to beconfider'd, that the great Meeting of Five hundred was in Galilee, where our. Saviour's Refidence chiefly had been, and where he had preached moft conftantly, and by Confequence he had pro- bably there the greateft Number of Followers, which was the Reafon why he chofe to appear there, and appointed that Place for the general Meeting. After which, the Apostles, who went thither by our Lord's Appointment, together 4 with
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