may have been the most importunate, and thereby attracted the chief attention.

Luke tells us that the women, who came to the sepulchre on the morning of the resurrection, saw there two angels. -Chap. xxiv. 4. Matthew and Mark speak of but one,probably the one who addressed the women. Now discrepancies such as these do not amount to contradictions, nor are they at all inconsistent with the full inspiration of the writers. The entire account in each of the evangelists is true, though neither of them profess to give us all the truth.

I have spoken of the healing of the blind men near Jericho. There is a slight discrepancy in the evangelists as to the place where the miracle was performed. Matthew and Mark say that it was when Jesus passed out of Jericho. But Luke is made to say, in our translation, that it was "when he was come nigh to Jericho," i. e. before he entered it.-Luke xviii. 35. The Greek of Luke, however, ἐν τῷ ἐγγί only imports that the miracle was wrought when they were near to Jericho, not certifying whether they were near it in coming into the city, or passing out of it.

There is a discrepancy in the evangelists as to the time of our Savior's transfiguration. Having recorded his solemn discourse respecting the worth of the soul, and the necessity of self-denial, Matthew and Mark say-“ And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, and James, and John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them."-Matt. xvii. 1. Luke says"It came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter, and John, and James, and went up into a mountain," &c.-Luke ix. 28. The probability is, that Luke included in his statement the day when the discourse. above referred to was finished, and also that when the ascent into the mount of transfiguration was undertaken; both of which the other evangelists omitted. It will be seen that Luke does not pretend to be exact. "It came to pass about an eight days," &c.

In his last terrible denunciation against the Jews at Jerusalem, our Savior says "That upon you may come all

the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zecharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar." -Matt. xxiii. 35. It has been made a question, who this Zecharias, son of Barachias was. The prophet Zechariah was a son of Berechiah; (Zech. i. 1;) but there is no evidence that he was slain in the manner described by our Savior, though he may have been. There is another Zechariah, a priest, and a pious man, who was slain in the temple; (2 Chron. xxiv. 21;) but he was the son of Jehoiada. If the latter Zechariah was intended by our Savior, as seems most probable, then Jehoiada may have had two names, as we have seen was common among the Jews. Or some transcriber may have inserted Barachias for Jehoiada. Jerome tells us that, in an ancient Hebrew version of Matthew, the name here was Jehoiada.

When Judas brought back the thirty pieces of silver, and the chief priests took them, and bought with them the potter's field," then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet," &c.-Matt. xxvii. 9. The passage here quoted is no where found in the prophecy of Jeremiah, but in Zechariah xi. 13. Nor is it at all likely that the name Jeremiah was inserted by Luke. In the old Syriac version, the oldest extant, there is no name inserted here, but simply "the prophet." The word Jeremiah was undoubtedly interpolated by some ignorant transcriber.

There is a discrepancy in the evangelists as to the time in the day when our Lord was crucified. Mark says it was the third hour, or about nine o'clock.--Chap. xv. 25. But John says it was about the sixth hour, when Pilate delivered him up to be crucified.-Chap. xix. 14. After mature reflection, I incline to the opinion that the reading in John has been (perhaps undesignedly) changed; that it was originally the third hour. And to this agree some ancient manuscripts of very high authority.

There is a difference, also, in the statements of the evangelists, as to the inscription which was placed upon the But the difference amounts only to this, that Matthew and John give the inscription more fully than Mark

cross.

and Luke. All are accurate, so far as they go; and there is not the slightest contradiction between them.

Some have thought it impossible to harmonize the accounts of the four evangelists, respecting the resurrection of Christ. A writer in Professor Huntington's Religious Magazine for February, 1858, says "We shall not attempt to construct a formal harmony of the details in the four distinct accounts of the resurrection. Any such harmony must inevitably rest on violent transpositions and arbitrary hypotheses."-Page 75. But I must acknowledge that I find no such difficulties as those here referred to. I am satisfied that the accounts of the several evangelists, though differing in various minute particulars, do admit of a perfectly consistent harmony; and I now proceed to detail the several events in the order in which I suppose they took place.

Towards morning, on the first day of the week, while the guard were keeping watch about the sepulchre, suddenly there was a great earthquake. One of the chief of the angels of light descended from heaven, rolled away the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre, and sat upon it.For fear of him, the keepers trembled, swooned away, and became as dead men; so that they were no longer able to see or to tell what was passing around them. At this time, Jesus awoke from the dead, threw aside his grave clothes, and left the sepulchre. At the same time, also, many bodies of the old saints, who had been buried round Jerusalem, and whose tombs had been opened, either by this earthquake, or by that which occurred at the death of Christ, arose from the dead, went into the holy city, and appeared

unto many.

While these things were passing at the sepulchre, and among the dead, the female friends of Christ were awake, and preparing to go to the sepulchre, that they might more formally and perfectly embalm the body of Jesus. Foremost among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, Joanna, and several others. And as they passed along to the sepulchre, they had some anxiety and conversation respecting the stone at the mouth

of it. It was very great, and who should assist them in rolling it away. But as they approached the sepulchre, they saw that the stone had been removed. The guard, by this time, had recovered from their swoon, and were gone into the city, to report respecting the earthquake and the angel.

As soon as the women saw that the stone had been removed, and that the sepulchre was open, Mary Magdalene, leaving her companions, ran back to the city to inform Peter and John. And Peter and John arose and ran to the sepulchre, and went down into it, and found the grave clothes carefully laid away, but the body was not there. Then they returned, in doubt and wonder, to the city, and left Mary Magdalene alone weeping at the sepulchre. And as she wept, she stooped down and looked into it; and there she saw two angels sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They seem to have been in the form of men, so that she was not frightened at all by the apparition. And one of them said unto her "Why weepest thou?" She answered Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." And having said this, she turned round, and saw Jesus standing near her; and supposing him to be the gardener, she said-"Sir, if you have removed the body of my Lord, please to tell me where you have laid it, and I will take it away." Then Jesus said unto her, in his usual voice and manner

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Mary." Instantly she knew him, and was about to fall at his feet and embrace him; but he told her "No, not now; but haste rather, and tell my disciples what you have seen."

While Mary Magdalene was gone with this important message to the disciples, the other women, from whom she had been separated, came back to the sepulchre, about "the rising of the sun.”—Mark xvi. 2. They even ventured to go into the sepulchre; and there, instead of the body of Jesus, they saw two angels, in the form of men,-probably the same which had appeared to Mary Magdalene,-sitting on the right side of the sepulchre, in shining garments —

Luke xxiv. 4. Matthew and Mark speak, as before mentioned, of but one angel,-the one, probably, which addressed the women. He spoke kindly to them, told them not to be affrighted, and no longer to seek the living among the dead. "Your Lord is not here; he is risen; come see the place where he was laid. And now go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is indeed risen from the dead."

And as they went to tell the disciples, Jesus met them, and said unto them, "All hail!" And they fell together at his feet and worshipped him. But he hastened their departure, as he had before done in the case of Mary Magdalene, saying: "Go tell my brethren that I am alive, and that ere long they shall see me. So they ran, and united their testimony with that of Mary Magdalene, that they had seen the Lord. But the disciples were slow of heart to believe. They thought the women had been deceived, and their words seemed to them as idle tales.

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In the course of this memorable day, our Lord showed himself to Peter; but at what time of the day, and under what circumstances, we are not informed.-See Luke xxiv. 34; 1 Cor. xv. 5.

His next appearance was to two of the disciples, as they went to Emmaus, about seven and-a-half miles west of Jerusalem. One of these disciples was Cleopas or Alpheus, "the husband of Mary, and the father of James, and Jude, and Joses." Appearing in another form, so that he was not recognized by the disciples, he discoursed with them on the way respecting the recent events at Jerusalem; showed them that the Messiah must necessarily suffer; and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them, in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself. Arrived at Emmaus, he accepted the invitation of these disciples to tarry with them, and made himself known unto them in the breaking of bread.

As soon as they knew him, he vanished out of their sight. And they arose immediately and returned to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven apostles gathered together, and others with them. And as they were telling