were there, the author tells us, there was another great earthquake,
and an angel descended, rolled away the stone, and sat upon it, at
whose sight, the soldiers trembled, and were frighted to death. But
to prevent the like effect of his appearance upon the women, he
said unto them, fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus who was
crucified. That the women as well as the soldiers were present at
the descent of this angel, appears not only from there being nobody
else, by whom these uncommon circumstances could have been
related, but also by the pronoun personal ye, inserted in the original
Greek, which in that language is never done, unless it be
emphatically to mark such a distinction, or antithesis, as there was
on this occasion, between them and the Roman guard. Here,
however, the author is inadvertently inconsistent with himself, as
well as with the other evangelists; and forgetting that the sole
intent of rolling away the stone, was to open a passage, absolutely
necessary to the body of Jesus to come forth out of the sepulchre;
and that if he had risen and come forth after the angel had rolled it
away, both the women and the soldiers must have seen him rise, he
makes the angel bid them look into the sepulchre, to see--that he
was not there! and tell them that he was already risen; and that he
was gone before them into Galilee, where they should see him! In
their way, the author adds, Jesus himself met the women, and said,
"be not afraid, go tell my brethren to go into Galilee, and there
shall they see me." He says that the eleven apostles went
into Galilee, to an appointed mountain, and saw him there;
notwithstanding that some of them were so incredulous, as not
to believe even the testimony of their own senses.

In the interim, whilst the women were going to the apostles, the
author tells us, "some of the watch;" some strictly disciplined
Roman soldiers left their station to bring an account of what had
passed, not to the Governor their General, nor to any of their own
officers--but to the chief priests of the Jews! that they assembled a
council of the elders upon the occasion, and after deliberating what
was to be done, induced the soldiers, by large bribes, to run the risk
of being put to death themselves, upon the highly improbable
chance of the Jewish rulers having influence sufficient with the
Roman Proconsul to prevail on him to submit to the indelible
infamy of neglecting the discipline of the army under