our object to say that Matthew and Mark relate in the plural number, what properly is confined to Mary Magdalene. If, however, we attempt to obviate the difficulty, by saying, Mark does not deny the fact of Jesus showing himself to the other women, but that he appeared, in the first instance, to Mary Magdalene, although this explanation is scarcely reconcilable with the words of Mark, still another difficulty arises, for the other women had already left the grave, and returned to the city, when Mary Magdalene comes a second time, with Peter and John, to the sepulchre, and then Jesus appears to her. (John xx. 2—18.) If he appeared to the other women, as they returned to Jerusalem, they must have seen him sooner than Mary Magdalene, and, as we may conclude from Matthew and from Mark, carried the intelligence to Jerusalem. I have candidly stated my difficulties to my readers, as I feel them; and if the last eight verses of this 16th chapter are genuine, I am not in a situation to reconcile them. But these difficulties are not, however, of any great magnitude; we have only to follow the example of the ancient writers, who, more than 1400 years ago, rejected them, because they were found in such few Greek manuscripts, and the

difficulties vanish.

In this case there is no

longer any contradiction between Mark and any other evangelist, but between an unknown writer, (whose object has been to complete the gospel of Mark,) and Matthew and Luke. Before I come to the 9th, 10th, and 11th verses of this chapter, I shall state the arguments for and against their authenticity. But if we reject these verses of Mark, as I am much inclined to do, the case is quite altered; the eighth verse does not convey a meaning at variance with the other evangelists, but it becomes to a certain degree more unintelligible. It is impossible that he should have meant the women never said any thing of what they saw, to any man; for how could Mark know what they related, if they preserved an eternal silence? It is evident, he wishes to describe the history of the resurrection of Jesus; and how strangely would it terminate, if no one had ever seen him alive, but that even the women, who find the grave empty, and who see the angels, do not mention it to any one? The case, therefore, may stand in this way; Mark had written thus far, and designed to write more, perhaps to add what is contained in the other evangelists, perhaps to state that Jesus had himself appeared to the

women, and that they had returned to the city to convey his commands to his disciples or whatever it might be, but some circumstance, unknown to us, hindered him and he left his gospel unfinished, but ending with these words "for they were afraid," words which seem certainly to be inconsistent with the termination of a book. But even with this explanation, an unpleasant doubt remains, "neither said they any thing to any man, for they were afraid." To whom did they not say any thing? Did they say nothing in the city to the disciples of Jesus of that which they had seen? But after such a sight, and under such fear and trembling, it was impossible they could be silent! and, according to the other evangelists, they see Jesus, even before they return into the city, receive from him new instructions, and carry those instructions to his disciples. It is probable that it was the intention of Mark to continue the narrative, but, in this case, he could not have said "neither said they any thing to any man" for before Jesus appeared, there was no one present, to whom they could have said any thing. Mark is not only at variance with the other evangelists, but with himself, for the cause, namely, "being afraid, (and which is in evident connection with the fear of

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the vision they had seen) does not reconcile itself with the circumstance of their not saying any thing to any man, what they knew of the resurrection of Jesus. Every difficulty would be obviated, if the words "to no man," were not there; if Mark had written "neither said they any thing," the sense would be, that upon their coming out of the sepulchre, they fled in great haste, that fear and trembling had taken possession of them, they said not a word, for they were afraid; that is, that from fear, they gave the angels no answer, but ran away as quickly as they could. I must confess that no old manuscript, and that no old translation omits the words " to no man," but which words do not appear to be adapted to the passage. If they are not the genuine reading, it must be an error in the copy of Mark, which the compiler of the books of the New Testament had and carried into his collection.

Some of the manuscripts, which have not the last eight verses, add full above 1200 years ago the following verses to the end of this gospel, which I do not wish to leave entirely unexplained. No single manuscript, which has come down to us, has the verses in the text, but many of them, (and they are to be found in

Wetstein) have a note or comment, which states that they have been met with in some older manuscripts, and this is confirmed by the marginal observations of the Syriac translation. From hence it is evident that the manuscripts which contained this addition were as old, if not older than the sixth century; they are, therefore, older than any Greek manuscript which have come down to our time. The following are the verses: Every thing which was commanded them, "with respect to Peter, they quickly executed; "after that Jesus had himself sent by them, the

holy and uncorrupt preaching of eternal salva"tion from the east even unto the west."

I wish to explain these verses in order to shew that they are not from the hands of Mark, as they contain a mode of speaking, which was unusual with him, and a thought, which was scarcely to be expected from him.

"Every thing which was commanded them."] According to this the women were not silent about what was intrusted to them, and the eighth verse only intimates that they spoke to no intermediate person. This would make the eighth verse much clearer.

"With respect to Peter."]

The original

Greek is classical; (John xi. 19, Acts xiii. 13,

H