Lonely Cottage

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  “Among the few features of agricultural England which retain an appearance but little modified by the lapse of centuries, may be reckoned the high, grassy and furzy downs, coombs, or ewe-leases, as they are indifferently called, that fill a large area of certain counties in the south and south-west. If any mark of human occupation is met with hereon, it usually takes the form of the solitary cottage of some shepherd. Fifty years ago such a lonely cottage stood on such a down, and may possibly be standing there now. In spite of its loneliness, however, the spot, by actual measurement, was not more than five miles from a county-town. Yet that affected it little. Five miles of irregular upland, during the long inimical seasons, with their sleets, snows, rains, and mists, afford withdrawing space enough to isolate a Timon or a Nebuchadnezzar; much less, in fair weather, to please that less repellent tribe, the poets, philosophers, artists, and others who “conceive and meditate of ple...

Who Saw Jesus First: Mary or Peter?

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"The Gospels say that women were the first to see the resurrected Christ (Mary first and then to the other women) and then to Peter and then to the Twelve. Later in the New Testament, Paul says that Peter (Cephas) was the first one to see Christ after His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:5). Which is correct?"

Since men’s testimonies were considered legal (official) in the first century, it is understandable that the apostle Paul would not list the women as witnesses in his defense of the resurrection in his letter to the Corinthians. Jesus did appear first to Mary Magdalene, then to the other women, and then to Peter. Paul was not giving a complete list. The order of the appearances of Christ is as follows:

The order of the Resurrection appearances is as follows:
  1. Mary and the women (Matthew 28:1-10; John 20:10–18);
  2. Peter (1 Corinthians 15:5);
  3. Two disciples (Luke 24:13–35);
  4. Ten apostles (Luke 24:36–49; John 20:19–23);
  5. Eleven apostles (John 20:24–31);
  6. Seven apostles (John 21);
  7. All apostles (Matthew 28:16–20; Mark 16:14–18);
  8. 500 brethren at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6);
  9. James (1 Corinthians 15:7);
  10. All apostles (Acts 1:4–8);
  11. Paul (Acts 9:1–9; 1 Corinthians 15:8)

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