to have risen up, so that they could be seen standing, as Luke states that they were seen, and
then, according to the narrative of the same Luke, to have addressed the women, as they
were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth. The terms were these: “Why seek ye
the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you
when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of
sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise. And they remembered His words.”1510
It was after this that, as we learn from John, “Mary turned herself back, and saw Jesus
standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?
whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if thou
have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away. Jesus
saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say,
Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go
to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my
God, and your God.”1511 Then she departed from the sepulchre, that is to say, from the
ground where there was space for the garden in front of the stone which had been dug out.
Along with her there were also those other women, who, as Mark tells us, were surprised
with fear and trembling. And they told nothing to any one. At this point we next take up
what Matthew has recorded in the following passage: “Behold, Jesus met them, saying, All
hail! And they came and held Him by the feet, and worshipped Him.”1512 For thus we
gather that, on coming to the sepulchre, they were twice addressed by the angels; and, again,
that they were also twice addressed by the Lord Himself, namely, at the point at which Mary
took Him to be the gardener, and a second time at present, when He meets them on the
way, with a view to strengthen them by such a repetition, and to bring them out of their
state of fear. “Then, accordingly, said He unto them, Be not afraid: go, tell my brethren that
they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.”1513 “Then came Mary Magdalene, and
told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things unto
her;”1514—not herself alone, however, but with her also those other women to whom Luke
alludes when he says, “Which told these things unto the eleven disciples, and all the rest.
And their words seemed to them like madness, and they believed them not.”1515 Mark also
attests these facts; for, after telling us how the women went out from the sepulchre, trembling
and amazed, and said nothing to any man, he subjoins the statement, that the Lord rose
1510 Luke xxiv. 5–8.
1511 John xx. 13–18.
1512 Matt. xxviii. 9.
1513 Matt. xxviii. 10.
1514 John xx. 18.
1515 Luke xxiv. 10, 11.
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Of the Absence of All Discrepancies in the Narratives Constructed by the…