lee to tlie feast of tlie passover, in company witli the other women who ministered to our Lord. She must now have been comparatively old, at least forty-eight years old. To represent her in pictures as a beautiful young woman at the time of the crucifixion is absurd. Who can doubt that when she saw her Son hanging on the cross, she must have realized the truth of old Simeon's prophecy, " A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also," (Luke ii. 35.) Very striking and instructive is it to observe how very rarely she is named in the Gospel histo- ry.— Mary, the wife of Cleophas, or Alpheus, was there. The Greek leaves it uncertain whether it means daughter or wife ; but nearly all think it must be wife. She seems to Jiave been the mother of James and Jude the Apostles, and to have been related in some way to the Virgin Mary, either as sister or sister-in-law. Hence James is called the " Lord's brother." She too must have been nearly as old as the Virgin Mary, if we may judge by her having two sons who were Apostles. — Mary of Magdala, in Galilee, commonly called Mary Magdalene, was also there. Of her we only know that Jesus had cast out of her seven devils, and that none of all the women who ministered to our Lord, seem to have felt such deep gratitude to our Saviour, and to have demonstrated such deep affection. The common doctrine that she had once been a notorious breaker of the seventh commandment has no foundation in Scripture. She probably was the youngest of all the party, and as such had to risk more, and sacrifice her own feelings more than any, in pressing through a crowd of enemies to the foot of the cross.
But were there only three women at the cross ? This is a disputed question, and one which will probably never be set- tled, since the Greek wording of the verse before us leaves the poiDt open either way.
(a) Most commentators think that the words, " His mother's sister," belongs to " Mary the wife of Cleophas," and are meant to define the relationship between that Mary and Mary the mother of our Lord.
(b) Others, as Pearce, Bengel, and Alford, think that " His mother's sister " means a fourth woman, and that this woman was Salome, the mother of James and John. The strongest ar- gument in favor of this view is the distinct statement in Mat- thew's account of the crucifixion, that many women beheld the sight, " among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's chil- dren,"— that is, Salome. (Matt, xxvii. 5"6.) If she stood with Mary Magdalene looking on, why should we doubt that she stood with her at the cross ? The suppression of her name is quite characteristic of John. She was his own mother, and he modestly keeps back her name, as he keeps back his own. In what way she was the " sister " to the mother of our Lord we do not know. But there is no reason against it, that I know of. According to this view, the women at the foot of the cross were