will not be how we are buried, but whether we were " buried with Christ," and repented and believed. (Rom. vi. 4.) Better a thousand times to die the death of the righteous, have a lowly grave and a pauper's funeral, than to die graceless, and lie under a marble tomb !
Notes. John xix. 38—43.
38. — [And after tJiis Joseph of Arimathma.] This verse begins St. John's account of our Lord's burial. The manner of that burial was one of the things predicted by Isaiah (ch. liii. 9), in a verse which is not correctly translated. It should be, " His grave was appointed with the wicked : but with the rich man was His tomb." The details of His burial are carefully re- corded by all the four Evangelists. Each of them names Joseph as the prime agent in the transaction, and, singularly enough, each mentions something that the other three Gospel- writers do not mention. St, Matthew alone says that he was " a rich man." (Matt, xxvii, 51.) St. Mark alone says that he was " an honorable counsellor, which also waited for the king- dom of God." (Mark xv. 43.) St. Luke alone says that he was " a good man and a just," who had " not consented to the coun- sel and deed of them, . . . who himself waited for the king- dom of God." (Luke xxiii. 50, 51.) St. John alone says here that he was "' a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews." It is another singular fact about Joseph, that we never hear a word about him in Scripture, except on this occasion of our Lord's burial. Both before and after this interesting event, the Bible, for some wise reason, is entirely silent about him. Nor can we explain how an inhabitant of Arimathaea happened to have a new tomb at Jerusalem. We must either suppose tliat, as a rich man, he had two residences, or else that, though born at Arimathaea, he had lately removed to Jerusa- lem. The utmost we know is that the article in tae Greek be- fore " Joseph," and before " of Arimathaea," seems to indicate that he was a person well known by history to the readers of St. John's Gospel.
About the place whence Joseph came, "Arimathaea," nothing certain is known. Some think that it is Ramali, where Sam- uel dwelt, (1 Sam. vii. 17.) The Septuagint Greek translator certainly calls Ramah " Arraathaim," which looks like it. St. Luke calls it a " city of Judaea." Nothing certain seems to be known about it.
[Being a disciple. ..secretly. ..Jews.'] The Greek word rendered *' secretly," is literally " a concealed " disciple, — a past participle. The expression teaches the interesting fact that there were Jews who secretly believed that Jesua was the Messiah, and