There is no greater certainty in the apparition of Jesus to Peter and John. These two apostles went to the sepulchre, but they did not find their dear master. According to John, he himself saw neither Jesus nor his angels. From Luke it appears, that these apostles arrived _after_ the angels were gone; and from John, _before_ the angels had arrived. The witnesses are, indeed, very little unanimous as to these angels, who seem to have been seen only by the good ladies, whom they charged to announce to the disciples the resurrection of Jesus. Matthew makes mention of _one angel_ only, whom Mark calls _a young man_.
It is said that Jesus showed himself again to two disciples of Emaus, called _Simon_ and _Cleophas_; but they did not recognize him, though they had lived familiarly with him. They proceeded a long while in his company without suspecting who he was--a circumstance which, undoubtedly, evinced a very strange failure of memory. It is true, Luke tells us that their _eyes were as if shut_. Is it not very singular that Jesus should show himself in order not to be known again? They, however, recognized him afterwards; but immediately dreading, as it would seem, to be seen too nearly, the phantom disappeared. The two disciples went immediately and announced the news to their brethren assembled at Jerusalem, where Jesus arrived fully as soon as they.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, agree in telling us, that when the disciples were informed of the resurrection of Jesus, they saw him for the first and last time. But the author of the Acts of the Apostles, John and Paul contradict this assertion, for they speak of several other appearances which afterwards occurred. Matthew and Mark inform us, that the disciples received orders to go and join Jesus _in Galilee_; but Luke and the author of the Acts (i.e. the same Luke) says, that the disciples were ordered _not to go out of Jerusalem_. As to this last apparition, Matthew places it on a _mountain in Galilee_, where Jesus had fixed the rendezvous for the evening of the day of his resurrection; whilst Luke informs us that it was at Jerusalem, and tells us that immediately thereafter Jesus ascended into heaven, and disappeared forever. Yet the author of the Acts of the Apostles is not of this opinion: he maintains, _against himself_, that Jesus tarried still forty days with his disciples in order to instruct them.