to go to Galilee. Mark says the same. Luke says they were commanded
not to leave Jerusalem. John says they did go to Galilee.

So, again, with regard to the Ascension. Luke and Mark say that
Christ went up to Heaven. Matthew and John do not so much as mention
the Ascension. And it is curious, as Mr. Foote points out, that
the two apostles who were supposed to have been disciples of Christ
and might be supposed to have seen the Ascension, if it took place,
do not mention it. The story of the Ascension comes to us from
Luke and Mark, who were not present.

Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. Yet Luke makes Him say
to the thief on the cross: "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt
thou be with me in Paradise." Matthew, Mark, and John do not repeat
this blunder.

There are many other differences and contradictions in the Gospel
versions of the Resurrection and Ascension; but as I do not regard
those differences as important, I shall pass them by.

Whether or not the evidence of these witnesses be contradictory,
the facts remain that no one of them states that he knows anything
about the matter of his own knowledge; that no one of them claims
to have himself heard the story of the woman, or the women, or the
angels; that no one of them states that the women saw, or said they
saw, Christ leave the tomb.

As for the alleged appearances of Christ to the disciples, those
appearances may be explained in several ways. We may say that
Christ really had risen from the dead, and was miraculously present;