say, the words are used by the evangelist in his narrative, but they are presented by him as
a direct statement of what was spoken by the angel and by the Lord. This, therefore, unques-
tionably compels us to accept them as uttered prophetically.1579 Now Galilee may be inter-
preted to mean either “Transmigration” or “Revelation.” Consequently, if we adopt the idea
of “Transmigration,” what other sense occurs to us to put upon the sentence, “He goeth
before you into Galilee, there shall you see Him,” but just this, that the grace of Christ was
to be transferred from the people of Israel to the Gentiles? That in preaching the gospel to
these Gentiles, the apostles would meet with no acceptance unless the Lord prepared a way
for them in the hearts of men,—this may be what is to be understood by the sentence, “He
goeth before you into Galilee.” And, again, that they would look with joy and wonder at the
breaking down and removing of difficulties, and at the opening of a door for them in the
Lord through the enlightenment of the believing,—this is what is to be understood by the
words, “there shall ye see Him;” that is to say, there shall ye find His members, there shall
ye recognise His living body in the person of those who shall receive you. Or, if we follow
the second view which takes Galilee to signify “Revelation,” the idea may be, that He was
now no more to be in the form of a servant, but in that form in which He is equal with the
Father;1580 as He promised to those who loved Him when He said, according to the testimony
of John, “And I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”1581 That is to say, He was
afterwards to manifest Himself, not merely as they saw Him before, nor merely in the way
in which, rising as He did with His wounds upon Him, He was to give Himself to be touched
as well as seen by them, but in the character of that ineffable light, wherewith He enlightens
every man that cometh into this world, and in virtue of which He shineth in darkness, and
the darkness comprehends Him not.1582 Thus has He gone before us to something from
which He withdraws not, although He comes to us, and which does not involve His leaving
us, although He has preceded us thither. That will be a revelation which may be spoken of
as a true Galilee, when we shall be like Him; there shall we see Him as He is.1583 Then, also,
will there be for us the more blessed transmigration, from this world into that eternity, if
we embrace His precepts so as to be counted worthy of being set apart on His right hand.
For there, those on the left hand shall go away into eternal burning, but the righteous into
life eternal.1584 Hence they shall pass thither, and there, shall they see Him, as the wicked
1579 [The discussion of the appearances of the Risen Lord is so clear and candid, that one must regret that
it finds its conclusion in the allegorizing exegesis of this section.—R.]
1580 Phil. ii. 6, 7.
1581 John xiv. 21.
1582 John i. 5–9.
1583 1 John iii. 2.
1584 Matt. xxv. 33–46.
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Of Christ’s Subsequent Manifestations of Himself to the Disciples, and of…