The writer of the book of Matthew relates, that the angel
that was sitting on the stone at the mouth of the sepulchre,
said to the two Marys (xxviii. 7), " Behold Christ is gone be-
fore you into Galilee, there ye shall see him ; lo, I have told
you." And the same writer at the next two verses (8, 9,)
makes Christ himself to speak to the same purpose to these
women immediately after the angel had told it to them, and
that they ran quickly to tell it to the disciples ; and it is
said (ver. 16), " Then the eleven disciples went away into
Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them ;
and, when they saw him, they worshipped him."

But the writer of the book of John tells us a story very



164 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE.
different to this ; for he says (xx. 19) " Then the same day
at evening, being the first day of the week, [that is, the same
day that Christ is said to have risen,] when the doors were
shut, where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the
Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst of them."

According to Matthew the eleven were marching to
Galilee, to meet Jesus in a mountain, by his own appoint-
ment, at the very time when, according to John, they were
assembled in another place, and that not by appointment,
but in secret, for fear of the Jews.
The writer of the book of Luke xxiv. 13, 33-36, contra-
dicts that of Matthew more pointedly than John does ; for
he says expressly, that the meeting was in Jerusalem the
evening of the same day that he (Christ) rose, and that the
eleven Vere there.
