rolling away of the stone, and the terror of the guards, with which they were so stricken,
that in some part they lay like dead men. Then, as John informs us, came Mary Magdalene,
who unquestionably was surpassingly more ardent in her love than these other women1505
who had ministered to the Lord; so that it was not unreasonable in John to make mention
of her alone, leaving those others unnamed, who, however, were along with her, as we
gather from the reports given by others of the evangelists. She came accordingly; and when
she saw the stone taken away from the sepulchre, without pausing to make any more minute
investigation, and never doubting but that the body of Jesus had been removed from the
tomb, she ran, as the same John states, and told the state of matters to Peter and to John
himself. For John is himself that disciple whom Jesus loved. They then set out running to
the sepulchre; and John, reaching the spot first, stooped down and saw the linen clothes lying,
but he did not go within. But Peter followed up, and went into the sepulchre, and saw the
linen clothes lie, and the napkin, which had been about His head, not lying with the linen
clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then John entered also, and saw in like
manner, and believed what Mary had told him, namely, that the Lord had been taken away
from the sepulchre. “For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from
the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without
at the sepulchre weeping,”1506—that is to say, before the place in the rock in which the
sepulchre was constructed, but at the same time within that space into which they had now
entered; for there was a garden there, as the same John mentions.1507 Then they saw the
angel sitting on the right side, upon the stone which was rolled away from the sepulchre; of
which angel both Matthew and Mark discourse. “Then he said unto them, Fear not ye; for
I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay: and go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen
from the dead; and, behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him: lo, I
have told you.”1508 In Mark we also find a passage similar in tenor to the above. At these
words, Mary, still weeping, bent down and looked forwards into the sepulchre, and beheld
the two angels, who are introduced to us in John’s narrative, sitting in white raiment, one
at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been deposited. “They say
unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away
my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.”1509 Here we are to suppose the angels
1505 The text follows the mss. in reading sine dubio cæteris mulieribus…plurimum dilectione ferventior.
Some editions insert cum before cæteris mulieribus; in which case the sense would be = Mary Magdalene, un-
questionably accompanied by the other women who had ministered to the Lord, but herself more ardent, etc.
1506 John xx. 9, 10.
1507 John xix. 41.
1508 Matt. xxviii. 5–7.
1509 John xx. 13.
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Of the Absence of All Discrepancies in the Narratives Constructed by the…