Note 1.1 — Chapter I · FORMATION OF BELIEFS RELATIVE TO THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.—THE APPARITIONS AT JERUSALEM.

Mark xvi. 11; Luke xviii. 34; xxiv. 44; John xx. 9, 24, and following verses. The contrary opinion in Matt. xii. 40; xxi. 4, 24; xvii. 9, 23; xx. 19; xxxi. 32; Mark viii. 34; ix. 9, 10—31; x. 34; Luke ix. 22; xi. 29, 30; xviii. 31 et seq.; xxiv. 6–8. Justin, Pial. cum Tryph. 106, proceeds from a source on which, beginning from a certain epoch, considerable reliance may be placed as to the announcements which Jesus had made in reference to his resurrection. The synopticals acknowledge, moreover, that if Jesus spake of it at all, his disciples understood nothing of it (Mark ix. 10, 32; Luke xviii. 34: compare Luke xxiv. 8, and John ii. 21, 22).

[1.2] Mark xiii. 10; Luke xxiv. 17, 21.

[1.3] Preceding passages, especially Luke xvii. 24, 25; xviii. 31–34.

[1.4] Talmud of Babylon, Baba, Bathra, 58, a, and the Arabic extract given by the Abbé Bargès, in the Bulletin de l'Œuvre des Pélérinages en terre Sainte, February 1863.

[1.5] Ibn. Hischam, Sirot Errasoul, édit. Wüsdenfeld, 1012, and following pages.

{1.6} {Luke xxiv, 23; Acts xxv; Jos. Ant. xviii. 3.}

{1.7} Ps. xvi. 10. The sense of the original is a little different. But the received versions thus translate the passage.

{1.8} I. Thess. iv. 12, et seq.; I. Cor. xv., entire; Revelation xx.-xxii.

{1.9} Matt. xvi. 21, et seq.; Mark viii. 31, et seq.

{1.10} Josephus, Ant. XVIII., iii. 3.

{1.11} Carefully reperuse the four stories of the Gospels, and the passage I. Cor. xv. 4, 8.

{1.12} Matt. xxviii. 1; Mark xvi. 1; Luke xxiv. 1; John xx. 1.

{1.13} John xx. 2, seems to suppose even that Mary was not always alone.

{1.14} John xx. 1, et seq.; and Mark xvi. 9, et seq. It must be observed that the Gospel of Mark has, in our printed versions of the New Testament, two conclusions: Mark xvi. 1–8; Mark xvi. 9–20, to say nothing of two other conclusions, one of which has been handed down to us in the manuscript L. of Paris, and the margin of the Philoxenian version (Nov. Test., edit. Griesbach, Schultz, 1, page 291 note); the other by St. Jerome, Adv. Pelag. l. ii. (vol. iv., 2d part, col. 250, edit. Martianay.) The conclusion in the sixteenth chapter, 9th and following verses, are wanting in the Codex Sinaïticus and in the most important Greek manuscripts. But, in any case, it is of great antiquity, and its harmony with the fourth Gospel is a striking coincidence.

{1.15} Matt. xxvii. 60; Mark xv. 46; Luke xxiii. 53.

{1.16} John xix. 41, 42.

{1.17} See “Life of Jesus,” p. 38.

{1.18} The Gospel of the Hebrews contained, perhaps, some analogous circumstance (vide St. Jerome, de Viris Illustribus, 2).

{1.19} M. de Vogue, The Churches of the Holy Land, pp. 125, 126. The verb αποκυλίω (Matt. xxviii. 2; Mark xvi. 3, 4; Luke xxvi. 2) clearly proves that such was the situation of the tomb of Jesus.

{1.20} In all this, the recital of the fourth Gospel is vastly superior. It is our principal guide. In Luke xxiv. 12, Peter alone goes to the tomb. In the conclusion of Mark given in manuscript L, and in the margin of the Philoxenian version (Griesbach, loc. citat.) occur τοῖς περὶ τὸν Πέτρον St. Paul (I. Cor. xv. 5) similarly introduces Peter only in this first vision. Further, Luke (xxiv. 24) supposes that many disciples went to the tomb, which observation probably applies to successive visits. It is possible that John has here yielded to the after-thought which betrays him more than once in his Gospel, of showing that he had, in the history of Jesus, a first-rate rôle, equal even to that of Peter. Perhaps, also, the repeated declarations of John, that he was an eye-witness of the fundamental facts of the Christian faith (Gospel i. 14; xxi. 24; I. John i. 1–3; iv. 14), should be applied to this visit.

{1.21} John xx. 1, 10; compare Luke xxiv. 12, 34; I. Cor. xv. 5, and the conclusion of Mark in the manuscript L.

{1.22} Matt. xxviii. 9; in observing that Matt. xxviii. 9, 10, replies to John xx. 16. 17.

{1.23} John xx. 11–17, in harmony with Mark xvi. 9, 10; compare the parallel, but far less satisfactory account of Matt. xxviii. 1–10; Luke xxiv. 1, 10.

{1.24} John xx. 18.

{1.25} Compare Mark xvi. 9; Luke viii. 2.

{1.26} Luke xxiv. 11.

{1.27} Ibid. xxiv. 24.

{1.28} Ibid. xxiv. 34; I. Cor. xv. 5; the conclusion of Mark in the manuscript L. The fragment of the Gospel of the Hebrews in St. Ignatius, Epist. ad Smyrn., and in St. Jerome, de Viris Ill., 16, seem to place “the vision of Peter” in the evening, and to confound it with that of the assembled Apostles. But St. Paul expressly distinguishes between the two visions.

{1.29} Luke xxiv. 23, 24. It results from these passages that the tidings were separately proclaimed.

{1.30} Mark xvi. 1–8; Matthew xxviii. 9, 10, contradict this. But this is at variance with the synoptical system, where the women only see an angel. It seems that the first Gospel was intended to reconcile the synoptical system with that of the fourth, wherein one woman only saw Jesus.

{1.31} Matt, xxxviii. 2, et seq.; Mark xvi. 5, et seq.; Luke xxiv. 4, et seq., 23. This apparition of angels is even introduced into the story of the fourth Gospel (xx. 12, 13), which it completely deranges, being applied to Mary of Magdala. The author was unwilling to abandon this traditionary feature.

{1.32} Mark xvi. 8.

{1.33} Luke xxiv. 4, 7; John xx. 12, 13.

{1.34} Matt. xviii. 1, et seq. The story of Matthew is that in which the circumstances have suffered the greatest exaggeration. The earthquake and the feature of the guards are probably late additions.

{1.35} The six or seven accounts which we have of this scene on Sunday morning (Mark having two or three, and Paul having also his own, to say nothing of the Gospel of the Hebrews), are in complete disagreement with each other.

{1.36} Matt. xxvi. 31; Mark xiv. 27; John xvi. 32; Justin, Apol. i. 50; Dial. cum Tryph., 53, 106. The theory of Justin is that immediately on the death of Jesus, there was a complete apostasy on the part of His disciples.

{1.37} Matt. xxviii. 17; Mark xvi. 11; Luke xxiv. 11.

{1.38} Mark xvi. 9; Luke viii. 2.

{1.39} Consult, for example, Calmeil, De la Folie au Point de Vue Pathologique, Historique et Judiciaire. Paris, 1845. 2 vols, in 8vo.

{1.40} See the Pastoral Letters of Jurieu, 1st year, 7th letter; Misson, The Sacred Theatre of Cevennes (London, 1707), pp. 28, 34, 38, 102, 103, 104, 107; Memoirs of Court in Sayons, History of French Literature, seventeenth century, i. p. 303. Bulletin of the French Protestant Historical Society, 1862, p. 174.

{1.41} Matt. xiv. 26; Mark vi. 49; Luke xxiv. 37; John iv. 19.

{1.42} Mark xvi. 12–13; Luke xxiv. 13–33.

{1.43} Compare Josephus, B. J., vii. vi. 6. Luke places this village at 60 stadia, and Josephus at 30 stadia from Jerusalem. Εξήκοντα, which is found in certain manuscripts and editions of Josephus, is a correction made by some Christian. Consult the edition of G. Pindorf. The most probable locality of Emmaus is Kullouvé, a beautiful place at the bottom of a valley, on the road from Jerusalem to Jaffa. Consult Sepp. Jerusalem and the Holy Land (1863), I. p. 56; Bourquenoud in the Studies of Religious History and Literature, by the Priests of the Society of Jesus, 1863, No. 9; and for the exact distances, H. Zschokke. The Emmaus of the New Testament (Schaffouse, 1865).

{1.44} Mark xvi. 14; Luke xxiv. 33, et seq.: John xx. 19, et seq.: Gospel of the Hebrews in St. Ignatius, Epist. ad Smyrn., 3, and in St. Jerome, De Viris Ill., 16; I. Cor. xv. 5; Justin, Dial. cum Tryph. 106.

{1.45} Luke xxiv. 34.

{1.46} In an island opposite Rotterdam, where the people have remained attached to the most austere Calvinism, the peasants are persuaded that Jesus comes to their death-beds to assure the elect of their justification; many, in fact, see Him.

{1.47} In order to conceive the possibility of similar illusions, it is sufficient to remember the scenes of our own days, when a number of persons assembled together unanimously acknowledged that they heard unreal voices, and that in perfectly good faith. The expectation, the effort of the imagination, the desire to believe, sometimes compliances accorded with perfect innocence, explain such of the phenomena as are not produced by direct fraud. These compliances proceed, in general, from persons who are convinced, and who, actuated by a kindly feeling, are unwilling that the party should break up unpleasantly, and are desirous of relieving the masters of the house from embarrassment. When a person believes in a miracle, he always unwillingly assists in its propagation. Doubt and denial are impossible in this sort of assemblage. You would only cause pain to those who do believe, and to those whom you have invited. And thus it is that these experiences which succeed so well before small committees, are usually failures before a paying public, and always so when handled by scientific commissions.

{1.48} John xx. 22, 23, echoed by Luke xxiv. 49.

{1.49} Matt. xxviii. 17; Mark xvi. 14; Luke xxiv. 39, 40.

{1.50} John xx. 24, 29; compare Mark xvi. 14; and the conclusion of Mark preserved by St. Jerome, Adv. Pelag. ii. (v. above at page).

{1.51} John xx. 29.

{1.52} It is very remarkable indeed that John, under whose name the above dictum has been transmitted, had no particular vision for himself alone. Cf. I. Cor. xv. 5, 8.

{1.53} John xx. 26. The passage xxi. 14 supposes it is true that there were only two apparitions at Jerusalem before the assembled disciples. But the passages xx. 30, and xxi. 25, give us far more latitude. Compare Acts 1, 3.

{1.54} Luke xxiv. 41, 43; Gospel of the Hebrews, in St. Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, 2; conclusion of Mark, in St. Jerome, Adv. Pelag., ii.