278 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE Of Our BLESSED LORD punifhments ; kindly waited on him in his expiring moments, giving him all the con- folation in their power, though at the fame time the fight ofhis fufferings pierced them to the heart; and when he expired, and was carried off, they accompanied him to his grave, not defpairing though they found he had not delivered himfelf but to appearance was conquered by death, the univerfal enemy of mankind, Perhaps thefe pious women entertained fome faint hopes that he would fill revive, Or, if they did not entertain expeEtations of that kind, they at leaf cherifhed a írong degree of love for their Lord, and deter- mined to do him all poffible honour. It may be remarked, a faith fo re- markably írong, a love fo ardent, and a fortitude fo unfhaken, could not fail of receiving diftinguifhingtokens of the divine approbation ; and they were accordingly honoured with the news of CHRIST's re- furreEtion before the male difciples had their eyes cheared with the firf fight of their beloved Lord, after he arofe from the chambers of the grave; fo that they preached the joyful tidings of his refur- reEtion to the apofles themfelves. But there feems to have been other reafons why our great Redeemer {hewed himfelf firf to the women : the thoughts of the apofles were conflantly fixed on a temporal king- dom, and they had wrefted all his words into an agreement with that favourite notion ; and whatever they could not con- ftrue as confonant to that opinion, they feem either to have difbelieved or dif- regarded. Notwithfanding Jesus had foretold his own fufferings no lefs than feven different times, the apofles were afonilhed above meafure when they faw him expire on the crois. Immortality and terrefrial dominion were, according to their notion, the cha- raéterifics of the Mefliiah ; for which rea- fon, when they found that inftead of efa- blifhinghimfelf in the poffeffion ofuniverfal empire, he had neither delivered himfelf from an handful ofenemies, nor even from 3 death, they gave over all hopes of his be- ing the Mefliah: and as for his refurreétion, they feem not to have entertained the leaf notion of it ; fo that, when the news of this great event was brought to them, they confidered it as an idle tale. But not fo the women ; they were more fubmifìve to their Mailer's infruCions, and confe- quently were much better prepared for feeing him after his refurreCion than the apofles : for though they did not expeC that he would rife from the dead, yet they were not prejudiced ágainft it. The apofles, on-theother hand, not only abfolutely rejeCed the matter at firft, as a thing incredible, but even after they were acquainted with the accounts the foldiers had given of this great tranfaétion; nay, after they had feen the bleffed Jesus him- felf, fome of themwere fo unreafonable as fill to doubt. How muchrather then would their incredulity have led them to fufpeEt his appearing as an illufion, had he (hewed himfelf to them ! Thefe reports led them to recolleC the arguments proper for dif- pofing them to believe ; particularly the prophecies that had been fo often delivered in their own hearing, concerning his refur- reÉtion. Hence the angels, when they told this event to the women, and defired them to carry the news of it to his difciples, put them in mind of the prediCions Jesus himfelf had made, as a confirmation of it. Hence we alfo fee the reafon why Jesus, before he made himfelf known to the difciples at Emmaus, prepared them for a difcovery, by expounding to them on the road, the feveral prophecies concerning the Mef&ah, contained in the Old Tefa- ment, whichhitherto they had little attended to, or did not underfand. The company of women, we have ob- ferved, returned to the city, while Peter, John, and Mary Magdalene, were at the fepulchre. On their arrival they told as many of the difciples as they could find, that they had feen at the fepulchre a vifion ofangels, who affured them that Jesus was rifen from the dead. This new information afoni{hed
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=