Joseph of Arimathea, using the liberty which the Jewish custom* allowed to the family (including probably the friends) of the deceased, demanded the body from Pilate; in concert with Nicodemus, he embalmed it in the Jewish manner, by wrapping it in linen and spices, and buried it the same evening in a tomb, said by Matthew to be his own, and described by John as near at hand, and situated in a garden.

Schoettgen, Hora Heb. i. 9, gives an account of all that can be found in the Talmud concerning Jesus. The following is an abridgment of what he has collected:

Sanhedrin, fol. 67. 1. "He whom we call the son of Satda, is the son of Pandira. His mother was Mary, the plaiter of women's hair." It is questioned whether Satda was the name of Mary or of her husband. Massecheth Kallah, fol. 18. 2. The story of Mary's infidelity to her lawful husband is related in a different way, but with many absurdities, one of which is that R. Akiba is made her cotemporary. Sanhedrin, fol. 107, 2. "When king Jannæus slew the Rabbins, (Alex. Jannæus reigned 105-79 before our Christian æra,) R. Josua ben Perachia, and Jesus went to Alexandria in Egypt." Then follows an excommunication of Jesus by the Rabbi, after which it is said that Jesus exercised magic, and led

pose that death in one day or less, with the usual method, might often occur. Lipsius de Cruce, 1. 2. cap. viii. & ix.

Josephus (Vita, 75) relates that he obtained leave from Titus to take down three of his friends who had been crucified, and were still alive; that the utmost care was taken of them, but that one only recovered. He does not say how long they had been suspended.

This subject will be considered further in the Appendix.

The Romans were accustomed to leave the bodies of criminals upon the cross until they were consumed away, or were devoured by birds of prey. The Jewish law (Deut. xxi. 23.) ordained that the body of "one hanged upon a tree should not remain all night upon the tree, but should in any wise be removed that day." The Romans usually abstained from infringing Jewish customs; but as a special request was deemed necessary to obtain the removal of the bodies of Jesus and the two crucified with him, (John xix. 31.) it would seem doubtful if this Jewish law was invariably observed in the case of crucifixions by Roman authority. With respect to the burial of criminals, the Sanhedrim were accustomed to inter those executed by their order in tombs set apart for the purpose, and with certain circumstances of ignominy; but if the relations of the person executed demanded the body, it was granted to them. Babyl. Sanhedrin, fol. 46, 2, quoted by Lightfoot in Matt. xxvii. 58.

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the Israelites into the worst sins. The same things repeated, Sotah, fol. 47, 1. The chronology being evidently erroneous, R. Gedaliah in Shalsheleth hakkabala, fol. 17, 1, says that another R. Josua, who lived seventy years before the temple was destroyed, was the preceptor of Jesus. Schabbath, fol. 104, 2. There is a tradition that R. Eliezer said to the learned men, "Did not the son of Satda bring magic from Egypt, by a cutting made in his flesh?" They replied "Stultus fuit; ab homine stulto vere probationem nullam petere solemus." Raschius explains that the Egyptians prohibited their magical books from being carried out of their country, and that Jesus abstracted a schedule in an incision in his thigh. Sanhedrin, fol. 67, 1. The method of stoning those who seduced the people is related. Thus they did to the son of Satda in Lud, (Lydda) and suspended him on the evening of the Passover." Sanhedrin, fol. 43, 1. A tradition; "on the evening of the Passover they suspended Jesus. And a crier went before him for forty days, saying; He goeth forth to be stoned, because he hath used divinations, and deceived, and seduced Israel to apostacy. Whosoever can testify to his innocence, let him come forth and testify. But they found no one to testify, and they suspended him on the evening of the Passover." Gittin, fol. 57, 1. A story is told of the punishment after death of a certain Jesus, who however is said afterwards to be not the God of the Christians, but another, who derided the words of the sages: "For behold, it is not written Jesus Nazaræus, but Jesus Gereda. Moreover, yours is not to be understood, because he did not commit this only, but seduced Israel, and made himself God, and overthrew the whole foundation of piety. Therefore he must needs be wholly diverse from him, who admitted the written law, but rejected the oral one only, and who ought to be called not otherwise than a heretic." Sanhedrin, fol. 43, 1. "Our Rabbins deliver that Jesus had five disciples; Matthai, Nakai, Nezer, Boni, and Thoda (Thaddæus ?)." A story of their execution is related, each endeavouring to save himself by a Scripture quotation. Avoda Sara, fol. 17, 1. "R. Eliezer said, I was once walking in the upper market-place of Zippore, and found there one of the disciples of Jesus the Nazarene, whose name was James Sechaniensis (of Shechem ?)." Then follows 3 discussion on a point of the law. Avoda Sara, fol. 40, 4, and Schabbath, fol. 14, 4. A story of the cure of R. Eleazar ben Dama of a serpent's bite by the word of Jacobus of Sama, in the name of Jesus son of Pandira: which cure is condemned as unlawful by R. Ismael, and Eleazar dies. A similar story is told of the nephew of R. Josua ben Levi, who suffered from a stoppage in the throat; and "a certain man came to him, who whispered in the name of Jesus, son of Pandira, and he was immediately healed. But R. Josua pronounced that it would bave been better for him to die; and this happened."

The value of all this is little more than to show that the Talmud cannot help us much as to the history of Jesus. In fact, the Jews of the schools of Palestine after the fall of Jerusalem, are miserable sources of history of any kind. Their allusions to their own affairs and to the recent war are mixed with absurd legends. Besides Josephus and Philo, there is no Jewish historical authority of value during the first two centuries. Notwithstanding the satisfactory testimonies brought by Josephus to the superior exactness of his own work, (Life, § 66), we must lament the loss of that of his rival Justus of Tiberias, who wrote the Jewish history from Moses to the death of the younger Agrippa. But Photius (33rd code of Bibliotheca) tells us that he had read the book of Justus, and that it contained no mention of the appearance of Christ, and passed over slightly the affairs most necessary to be insisted upon (doubtless those relating to the Christians).

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King Agrippa, after applauding highly the works of Josephus, adds, “However when thou comest to me, I will inform thee of a great many things which thou dost not know." It is probable that these things related more to the secrets of his own and the Roman court, than to the affairs of Paul and the Christians. Yet how the hint awakens our wish for the king's account of the Apostle's trial!

CHAPTER II.

HISTORICAL SKETCH CONTINUED, FROM THE DEATH OF JESUS TO THE END OF THE FIRST CENTURY.

THE disciples of Jesus had not thought it possible that the Messiah could be allowed to perish ignominiously, but rather hoped that each successive disappointment was in reality bringing him nearer to his throne. The unexpected catastrophe bewildered them; and for a short time their allegiance was shaken by alarm and uncertainty. They feared to appear in public as his friends; the women, who incurred less danger, alone went to see where he was laid, and after the Sabbath, were the first to visit the tomb.

But this interval of one day and two nights, following upon the first hasty interment of Jesus, had given time to Joseph to take what further measures seemed expedient to him. His performance of the office of a friend in securing an honourable burial to Jesus, might excite suspicions on the part of the governor or of the council, and at the same time lead the disciples to regard him as their protector and leader. These characters he was not at all anxious to assume. He might have listened with interest to the discourses of Jesus, but his secret discipleship was not of that kind that he could leave all to follow him. He feared that the followers of Jesus, who had come up with him from the turbulent province of Galilee, although terrified for a moment, might attempt to excite the populace of Jerusalem to avenge him ; an attempt the more dangerous at that time, as Jerusalem was crowded with country people come up for the pass

over. The place of interment was likely to be resorted to, and being in his own possession or under his superintendence, any disturbances which might arise from the access to, or attempts to recover, the remains of Jesus, were likely to be laid to his charge, and possibly he might be the next victim. †

He had the body removed from the tomb, or from that part of it where the women had seen it laid, and directed the agent who remained in charge of the open sepulchre to inform the visitants that Jesus was not there, but that they should behold him in Galilee. The message was first delivered to Mary Magdalene and her companions, by whom and the subsequent narrators, in an interval of time of which

There were so many tumults raised on these occasions, that the approach of feasts was always regarded with apprehension by the priests. Jos. Ant. xvii. 9, 2; x. 2. War, ii. 3, 1.

These are some of the considerations on which this conjectural filling up of the conduct of Joseph rests :-

Firstly, Joseph stood in peril.

Secondly, He was not of a temper to encounter martyrdom.

Thirdly, On the other hand, he was attached to Jesus and his disciples, and would be unwilling to cast them off harshly.

Fourthly, The expedient in question would seem to meet all these three difficulties.

Fifthly, The character of the disciples, for the most part simple country people, and believers in miracles, admitted of its being practised upon them.

Sixthly, Joseph had better means than any of the' disciples of knowing what became of the body of Jesus. The total absence, therefore, of his important testimony, on either side of the question, confirms the suspicion that he had some peculiar motives for silence.

Seventhly, The conduct and writings of the disciples show that most of them were sincere believers in the resurrection and approaching re-appearance of their master.

The probabilities respecting the disposal of the remains of Jesus will be considered more amply in the chapter on the resurrection.

Mark xvi. 5-7, "And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified; he is risen, he is not here; behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and