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New subscribers can For sale, complete sets of the work from the commencement, neatly bound, in six- THE resurrection of our Lord is the central and crowning fact of Christian history. It was the grand topic of Apostolical preaching to Jew and Gentile, on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem and on Mars Hill in Athens. It inspired every sacrifice and compensated every pain of the first witnesses for the Gospel, and it has given a composing faith in immortality to every Christian sufferer since. It transformed the intellectual and moral life of the doubting, timid disciples, till they went forth to herald the glad tidings unalarmed by the fury of mobs or the threatenings of rulers, disregarding shame and torture and the terrors of death. It has kindled hopes and aspirations throughout the ages which have enabled the frailest to bear every trouble and master every obstacle, and lighted up the despair of the doubting with the radiance of heaven. Paul had reason then for affirming that "if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." * Matthew xxviii. 1-20; Mark xvi. 1-18; Luke xxiv. 1-49; John xx. 1-29; xxi. 1-24. VOL. XIX. 7 Objections, of course, have often been raised to the credibility of a fact, which decides the question whether Christianity is true or an imposture and a delusion; but the belief in the Saviour's resurrection has never been and never can be torn from the hearts of his disciples. Before the tribunal of the world, the great miracle stands proved beyond cavil. Still, the most unquestioning believer of the New Testament is compelled to acknowledge that there are difficulties. in accepting and reconciling all the circumstances connected with the resurrection which are recorded by the four Evangelists; and many sincere inquirers are troubled because they are unable to answer the arguments of superficial critics, though they themselves do not doubt "that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." For the purpose of relieving such believers as are anxious to give a reason for the faith that is in them, we propose to examine the alleged variations and discrepancies in the accounts of our Lord's resurrection, and discover, if possible, whether those discrepancies invalidate the testimony of the Evangelists, or whether, on the contrary, they do not, as Griesbach says, show how extremely studious the writers were of truth, and how scrupulously they followed their documents, so that in fact their best harmony lies in their differences. At the outset, we wish to make a few statements and observations to indicate the principles on which our inquiry is made. 1. A predetermination to make all the accounts harmonize at all hazards, is as weak and dishonest as a predetermination to find irreconcilable discrepancies. The Gospel narratives have as much claim to an impartial hearing at the bar of common sense as any other narratives, and are to be interpreted by the same rules. A distorting of the plain meaning of words is as culpable on the side of right as on the side of wrong. As a distinguished commentator of the |