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CORNELL
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HANNAH G. HALPERIN
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THE LOST AND HOSTILE GOSPELS
 THE

LOST AND HOSTILE GOSPELS:

ON THE TOLEDOTII JESCHU, AND THE PETRINE AND

PAULINE GOSPELS OF THE FIRST THREE CEN-

TURIES OF WHICH FRAGMENTS BEJLAJN.

BY

Eev. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.

AUTHOR OP "THE ORIOIN ANIl DEVELOPMENT OF nELIOIOUS BELIEF,'
"LEOENDART LITE3 OP THE OLD TESTAMENT CHAIIACTEBS,"
ETC.

WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,

14, HENRIETTA STREET, COYENT GARDEN, LONDON;
Abb 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.

1874.
 ^1-

PREFACE.

It is advisable, if not necessary, for me, by way of preface,

to explain certain topics treated of in this book, which do

not come under its title, and wliich, at first thought, may be
taken to have but a remote connection with the ostensible
subject of this treatise. These are :

1. The outbreak of Antinomianism which disfigured and

distressed primitive Christianity.

2. The opposition of the Nazarene Church to St. Paul

3. The structure and composition of the Synoptical Gos-
pels.

The consideration of these curious and important topics

has forced its way into these pages ; for the first two throw

I great light on the history of those Gospels which have dis-

appeared, and which it is not possible to reconstruct without

a knowledge of the religious parties to which they belonged.

IiORDOR And these parties were determined by the fundamental ques-
PaiHTCD BT 0. aSBKH IRD BOH,
178, STBABI).
tion of Law or No-law, as represented by the Petrine and
ultra-Pauline Christians. And the third of these topics is

necessarily bound up with the consideration of the structure

and origin of the Lost Gospels, as the reader will see if he

 PREFACE.
VU
VI PREFACE.

before the men of the past, but

The world of Nature lay
me in the critical examination of their extant or
cares to follow not read it, save from left to right,
they could not, would
fragments. The wise and learned
left, as their prejudices ran.
right to
"Upon each of these points a few preliminary words will

not, I hope, come amiss, and may prevent misunderstanding.

^ to ca.st aside their formula,

children, before they

and sit

learned her laws

meekly at the feet of

Nor
Nature, as little
1. The history of the Church, as the history of nations, is
Only now is she unfoldmg
to hectoring.
^ill History submit
not to be read with prejudiced eyes, with penknife in hand her ancient scrolls.
the hidden truth in _

to erase facts which fight against foregone conclusions. of an uncntical age.

It is
go back to conclusions
too late to
English Churchmen have long gazed with love on the the time for denymg the
was that of our fathers ;
though it
as truly aa
Primitive Church as the ideal of Christian perfection, the careful criticism is
passed away
facts revealed by
Eden wherein the first fathers of their faith walked blameless the shadows in the
moon by the
is the time for explaining
before God, and passionless towards each other. To doubt, and bis faggot of sticks.
story of the Sabbath-breaker
to dissipate in any way this pleasant dream, may shock and put a lens to our eyes,
and disclosed to
the fruit of the tree of
Md criticism has
rents
pain certain gentle spirits. Alas primitive Christianity
^ on the sHning. remote face of
!

opens the eyes, saddens also and shames the simplicity

yvutrit, if it
and craters undreamt of in our old
heart. the breast of the new-bom Church, an
That there was. in
teaching virulent actmty.
History, whether sacred or profane, hides her not latent, but in
dement of antinomianism,
from those who study her through coloured
glasses. She as any conclusion
a m
of demonstration
is a fact as capable
only reveals truth to those who look through the cold clear
not exact.
science which is .•„„<•
see the begmnmg
ol
medium of passionless inquiry, who seek the Truth without canonical writings we
I, the apostohc the
the masquerade in which alone they will is tinged by it ;
determining first texture of the Gospels
the trouble ; the
Peter on the other
receive it.
Epistles of Paul on
one side, of Jude and
it
It exhibite a strange, a sad want of faith in Truth thus .clesiasUcal history reveals
Twit in energetic operation;
facts according to order, to
to constrain history to turn out
And what These
squeeze it through the sieve of prejudice. indeed
^::^'^:ernkT:hat
Whence came the spars «"» i
materia ignitedl
, •
,. *„
instructing the
is Truth in history but the voice of God
world through the vices, follies, errors of the pasti

A cahn, patient spirit of inquiry

an attitude of the »«o..d.nn, t»^ .^
i^Une.™ .oml-i»->. with .0
is

To mind History has made strange weed,, -.d «p.. tb.t tW

U,_to tt. »nk »op
modern mind alone. this ot
„p to
disclosures which she kept looked up through former ages.
VIU PREFACE. PREFACE. IX

sprang from no Beed. We shall have to look up the stream shadow constantly haunting it ? The cause is to be sought

Man, moving in his little orbit,

to the fountains -whence the flood was poured. in the constitution of man.
The existence of antinomianlsm in the Churches of Greece 1ms ever a face turned away from the earth
and all that is

and Asia Minor, synchronizing with their foundation, tran- material, looking out into infinity,— a
dark, unknown side,

may speculate, but whicli we

spires from the Epistles of St. PauL It was an open sore in about whose complexion we
the life-time of the Twelve; it was a sorrow weighing daily on can never map. It is a face which must ever remain myste-

the great soul of the Apostle of the Gentiles. and ever radiate into mystery. As the eye and ear are
It called forth rious,

the indignant thunder of Jude and Peter, and the awful bundles of nerves through which the inner man goes out into,

world, so is the
denunciations in the charges to the Seven Churches. and receives impressions from, the material

The apocryphal literature of the sub-npostolic period carries soul a marveUous tissue of fibres through
which man is placed
God and mfinity. It is
on the sad story. Under St. John's presiding care, the gross en rapport with the spiritual world,
these fibres— take which simile you
scandals which defiled Gentile Christianity were purged out, the existence of tliis face,

constituted mystics in every age all over the

and antinomian Christianity deserted Asia Minor for Alex- like—which has
in burning India,
andria. There it made head again, as revealed to us by the world: Schamans in frozen Siberia, Fakirs
Witches, Anchor-
controversialists of the third century. And there it disap- absorbed Buddhists, ecstatic Snints, I'isenes,

peared for a while. ites, Swedenborgians, modem Spiritualists.

placed by Revelation
Yet the disease was never eradicated. Its poison still Man, double-faced by nature, is

rule, controlling his actions

lurked in the veins of the Church, and again and again under a sharp, precise external
throughout the Middle Ages heretics emerged fitfully, true and his thoughts.

and body are summoned to do homage.

successors of Nicolas, Cerdo, Marcion and Valentine, shaking To this rule spirit
the un-
off the trammels of the moral law, and seeking justification But the spirit has an inherent tendency towards

virtue of its nature, which places it on the con-

through mystic exaltation or spiritual emotion. The Papacy limited, by
Consequently it is never easy under a
trod down these ugly heretics with ruthless heel. But at the fines of the infinite.

imposed on it conjointly with the body it

Eeformation, when the restraint was removed, the disease rule which is ;

to assert its independence

brok'3 forth in a multitude of obscene sects spotting the fair strains after emancipation, strives
I to estabUsh its claim to obey
only
face of Protestantism. of what is external, and
It throbs sympatheti-
Nor has the virus exhausted itself. Its baleful workings, the movements in the spiritual world.
of mystery, like
if indistinct, are still present and threatening. cally with the auroral flashes in that realm
dark the flake of gold-leaf in the
magnetometer.
But how comes it that Christianity has thus its

a 3

:i
 PREFACE. PREFACE. XI

)
[
To be bound to the body, subjected to its laws, inevitably. So slight is the film that separates religious from
is d^rad-
ing to be unbounded, unconditioned, sensual passion, that uncontrolled spiritual fervour roars
; is its aspiration and
supreme felicity.
readily into a blaze of licentiousness.

Thus the incessant effort of the spirit is to establish its

It is this which makes revivalism of every description so

law in the inner world of dangerous. It is a two-edged weapon that cuts the hand
feeling, and remove it from the
material world without. which holds it.

Moreover, inasmuch as the spirit melts into the infinite,

Yet the spiritual, religious element in man is that which is

cut off from it by no sharply-defined line, it is disposed to

most beautiful and pure, when passionless. It is like those

placid tarns, crystal clear and icy cold, in Auvergne and the
regard itself as a part of God, a creek of the great Ocean of

Divinity, and to suppose that all its emotions are the pulsa- Eifel, which lie in the sleeping vents of old volcanoes. We
It loses the
love to linger by them, yet never with security, for we know
tions of the tide in the all-embracing Spirit.

consciousness of its individuality; it deifies itself.

that a throb, a shock, may at any moment convert them into
boiling geysira or raging craters.
A Suffee fable representing God and the human soul illus-

weU. " One knocked at the Beloved's door, and So well is this fact known in the Roman Church, that a
trates this
mystic is inexorably shut up in a convent, or cast out as a
a voice from within cried, '
Who is there V Then the soul
heretic.
answered, '
It is L' And the voice of God said, ' This house
The more spiritual a religion is, the more apt it is to lurch
will not hold me and thee.' So the door remained shut.
and let in a rush of immorahty ; for its tendency is to substi-
Then the soul went away into a wUdemess, and after long
tute an internal for the external law, and the internal impulse
fasting and prayer it returned, and knocked once again at the
is too often a hidden jog from the carnal appetite. In a
door. And again the voice demanded, 'Who is there 1'

highly spiritual reUgion, a written revelation is supplemented

Then he said, '
It is Thou,' and at once the door opened to
or superseded by one which is within.
him."
This was eminently the case with the Anabaptists of the six-
Thus the mystic always regards his unregulated wishes as

divine revelations, his random impulses as heavenly inspira-

teenth century. When plied with texts by the Lutheran divines,
they coldly answered that they walked not after the letter, but
tions. He has no law but his own wiU ; and therefore, in
after the spirit ; that to those who are in Christ Jesus, there
mysticism/ there is no curb against the grossest licenjJe.J
is an inner illumination directing their conduct, before which
The existence of that evil which, knowing the constitution
that which is without grew pale and waned. The horrible
^of man, we should expect to find prevalent in mysticism, the
experience of all ages has shown following, dogging its steps
xu PREFACE. PREFACE. XIU

licence into which this internal light plunged them is matter There can bo no evasion, no abrasion and rupture of the
of history. tie by either party, without lesion of the chain which binds
One lesson history enforces inexorably —that there lies a to the Incarnation ; and it is a fact worthy of note, that
danger to morals in placing reliance on the spirit as an inde- mysticism has always a tendency to obscure this fundamental
pendent guide. dogma, and that tlie immoral sects of ancient times and of
The spirit has its proper function and its true security the present day hang loosely by, or openly deny, this great
its function, the perception of the infinite, the divine; its verity.

security, the observance of the marriage-tie which hinds it to St. Paul had a natural bias towards mysticism. His trances
the body. and revelations betoken a nature branching out into tlio

God has joined body and spirit in sacred wedlock, and spiritual realm ; and throughout his letters wo see the in-

subjected both to a revealed external law; in the maintenance evitable consequence —a struggle to displace the centre of

of this union, and submission to tliis law, man's safety lies. obedience, to transfer it from without and enthrone it within,

The spirit supreme, the body a bond-maid, is no marriage ; it to make the internal revelation the governing principle of

is a concubinage, bringing with it a train of attendant evils. action, in the room of submission to an external law.
Man stands, so to speak, at the bisection of two circles, But, like St. Theresa, who never relinquished her common
the material and the spiritual, in each of which he has a sense whilst yielding up her spirit to the most incoherent
part, and to the centres of each of which he feels a gravi- raptures; like Mohammad, who, however he might soar in

tation. Absorption in either realm is fatal to the well-being ecstasy above the moon, never lost sight of the principles

of the entire man. which would ensure a very material success; like Ignatius

And this leads us to the consideration of the marvellous Loyola, who, in the midst of fantastic visions, elaborated a

aptitude to human nature of the Incarnation, welding together system of government full of the maturest judgment, —so St.

into indissoluble union spirit and matter, the infinite and the Paul never surrendered himself unconditionally to the prompt-

finite. The religion which flows from that source cannot dis- !'« A ings of his spirit. Like the angel of the Apocalypse, if he

sociate soul from body. Its law is the marriage of that which stood with one foot in the vague sea, he kept the other on

is spiritual to that which is material ; the soul cannot shake the solid land.

off the responsibilities of the body; everything spiritual is That thorn in the flesh, whose presence he deplored, kept
clothed, and every material object is a sacrament conveying a him from forgetting the body and its obhgations ; the moral

ray of divinity. disorders breaking out wherever he preached his gospel,

warned him in time not to relax too far the restraint imposed
XIV PREFACE. PREFACE. XV

by the law As vcssel-the rivets of moral

'without. the revolt of the Anabaptists voyage, draws the nails out of the
pieces.
checked Luther, so did the excesses of the Gentile Christians law—and the Christian character goes to
anest Paul Both saw and obeyed the warning finger of The history of the Church is the history of her leaning

Providence signalling a retreat. firat towards one side, then towaids the other, of advance

Divinely inspired St. Paul was. But inspiration never recoils from either peril.
amid perpetual
apostles
obscures and obliterates human characteristics. It directs 2. The alarm caused in Jerusalem amidst the elder

them own at the immorality which disfigured

and utilizes for its purpose, leaving free margin and the Nazarene Church
only cause of the mistrust
beyond that purpose for the exercise of individual proclivities Pauline Christianity, was not the
Other causes
uncontrolled. wherewith they viewed him and his teaching.
which I have not touched on in my
text, lest I
Paul's natural tendency is unmistakable ; and we may see existed

evidence of divine guidance in the fact of his having refused distract attention from the
main points of my argu-
should
notice here.
to give the rein to his natural propensities, and of being pre- ment, but they are deserving of
pared to turn all his energies to the repairing of those dykes And the first of these was the intense prejudice which
of Palestine against Greek
modes of
against the ocean which in a moment of impatience he had existed among the Jews
against the Greek language.
set his hand to tear down. thought, manners, culture, even
Palestinian
As Socrates was by nature prone to become the most The second was the jealousy with which the
their mode of inter-
vicious of men, so was Paul naturally disposed to become the Jews regarded the Alexandrine Jews,
of theology.
most dangerous of heresiarchs. But the moral sense of So-
I preting Scripture, and their system
brought up at
crates mastered his passions and converted him into a philo- St. Paul, an accompUshed Greek scholar,

adopted the theology and

sopher; and the guiding spirit of God made of Paul the Tarsus amidst Hellenistic Jews,

exegesis in vogue at Alexandria,

and on both these accounts
mystic an apostle of righteousness.
dislike of the national
party at
Christianity, as the religion of the Incarnation, has its excited the suspicion and
prejudices
external form and its internal spirit, and it is impossible to Jerusalem. The Nazarenes were imbued with the
(f. childhood, in the midst of
which
dissociate one from the other without peril Mere formalism they had acquired in their
could not but regard Paul
with
and naked spirituality are alike and equally pernicious. For- they had grown up, and they
disguise to the Greeks, and
malism, the resolution of religion into ceremonial acts only, i: alarm when he turned without
theological system and scriptu-
void of spirit, is like the octopus, lacing its thousand filaments introduced into the Church the
always
/ ral interpretations of a
Jewish community they had
about the soul and drawing it into the abyss ; and mysticism,
orthodoxy.
pure spirituality, like the magnet mountain in Sinbad's regarded as of questionable
 XVI PREFACE. PRKFACE. XVU

First let us consider the causes which contributed to tlie of the first book of the Maccabees styles those conformists to

creation of the prejudice against the Hellenizers. Judisa Imd the state policy, "evil men, seducing many to despise the

served as the battle-field of the Greek kings of Egypt and Law." Josephus designates them as "wicked" and "im-
Syria. Whether Judrea fell under the dominion of Syria or pious."^

Egypt it mattered not ; Ptolemies and Seleucides ahke were The memory of the miseries endured in the persecution of

intolerable oppressors. But it was especially the latter who Antiochus did not fade out of the Jewish mind, neither did
excited to its last exasperation the fanaticism of the Jews, the party disappear which was disposed to symboUze with

and called forth in their breasts an inefiFaceable antipathy :f

Greek culture, and was opposed to Jewish prejudice. Nor
towards everything that was Greek. did the abhorrence in which it was held lose its intensity.

The temple was pillaged by them, the sanctuary was From the date of the Antiocliian persecution, the names of

violated, the high -priesthood " Greek" or " friend of the Greeks" were used as synonymous
degraded. Antiochus Epi-
phanes entertained the audacious design of completely over- with " traitor" and " apostate."

tlixowing the religion of the Jews, of forcibly Helleuiziug Seventy years before Christ, whilst Hyrcanus was besieging
them. For this purpose he forbade the celebration of the Aristobulus in Jerusalem, the besiegers furnished the besieged

Sabbaths and feasts, drenched the sanctuary with blood to daily with lambs for the sacrifice. An old Jew, belonging to

pollute it, the sacrifices were not permitted, circumcision was the anti-nation.tl party, warned Hyrcanus that as long as the

made illegal The sufferings of the Jews, driven into deserts city was supplied >Tith animals for the altar, so long it would
and remote hiding-places in the mountains, are described in hold out On the molxow, in place of a lamb, a pig was

the first book of the Maccabees. flung over the walls. The earth shuddered at the impiety,

Yet there was a party disposed to acquiesce in this attempt and the heads of the synagogue solemnly cursed from thence-

at changing the whole current of their nation's life, ready to forth whosoever of their nation should for the future teach

undo the work of Ezra, break with their past, and fling them- the Greek tongue to his sons.^ Whether this incident be

selves into the tide of Greek civilization and philosophic true or not, it proves that a century after Antiochus Epi-

thought. These men set up a gymnasium in Jerusalem, phanes the Jews entertained a hatred of that Greek culture

Gnecised their names, openly scofi'cd at the Law, ignored the which they regarded as a source of incredulity and impiety.

Sabbath, and neglected circumcision.^ At the head of this The eon of Duma asked liis uncle Israel if, after having

party stood the high-priests Jason and Menelaus. The author

(
• wovfipot, Aofpeig. —Antiq. lili. 4, xii. 10.

• Joseph. Antiq. xii. 6 ; 1 Maccab. i. 11—15, 43, 62 ; 2 Maccab. i*.

* Baba-Eama, foL 82 ; Menachotb, foL 64 ; Sota, foL 49 ; San-Baba,
9—16. fol. 90.

m
 XIX
mil PREFACE. PBEFACB.

learned the whole Law, he might not study the philosophy The Jews, at the time of the first spread of Christianity,

" ' The Book of the and in Greece and Asia

of the Greeks. Law shall not depart out were dispersed over the whole world ;

quarter, and exercised influence, in every

of thy mouth; hut thou shalt meditate therein day and night* Minor occupied a
to
These are the words of God" (Josh. i. 8), said the old man j town. The Seleucides had given the right of citizenship

" find me an hour which is neither day nor night, and in these Asiatic Jews, and had extended to
them some sort of

The close association of these Jews with Greeks

that study your Greek philosophy."^ protection.
some of their ideas. Since
Gamaliel, the teacher of St. Paul, was well versed in Greek necessarily led to the adoption of
Palestinian and Babylon-
hterature; that this caused uneasiness in his day is probable; Ezra, the dominant principle of the

had been to create a "hedge of the Law," to con-

and indeed the Gemara labours to explain the fact of his ish rabbis

Consequently stitute of the legal prescriptions a

net lacing those over whom
knowledge of Greek, and apologizes for it.'

with minute yet tough fibres, stifling spontaneity.

Saul, the disciple of Gamaliel, also a Greek scholar, would/be it was cast
horizon, Greek
likely to incur the same suspicion, as one leaning away from Whilst rabbinism was narrowing the Jewish
vision. The ten-
strict Judaism towards Gentile culture. philosophy was widening man's range of
Jewish theology and Greek philosophy were
radi-
The Jews of Palestine viewed the Alexandrine Jews with dencies of

dislike, and mistrusted the translation into Greek of their cally opposed. The Alexandrine Jews never submitted to be
and blasphemy involved in the meshes of rabbinism. They produced a
sacred books. They said it was a day of sin
whom Aristobulus was the first known
when the version of the Septuagint was made, equal only in school of thinkers, of
which sought to
wickedness to that on which their fathers had made the exponent, and Philo the last expression,

golden calf.' combine Mosaism with Platonism, to explain the Pentateuch

as the foundation of a philosophic

system closely related to
The loudly-proclaimed intention of Paul to turn to the
Greeks.
Grentiles, his attitude of hostility towards the Law, the abro- the highest and best theories of the
ill'-'
repetition of pre-
gation of the Sabbath and substitution for it of the Lord's- In the Holy Land, routine, the uniform
scribed forms, the absence of aU
aUen currents of thought,
day, his denunciation of circumcision, his abandonment of
into formalism, and
his Jewish name for a Gentile one, led to his being identified tended insensibly to transform religion
to identify it with the ceremonies
which are its exterior mani-
by the Jews of Palestine with the abhorred Hellenistic party;

and the Nazarene Christians shared to the full in the national festation.
Alexandrine Jews, am-
prejudices.
In Egypt, on the other hand, the
exalted idea of their religion,
bitious to give to the Greeks an
» * Baba-Kaina, fol. 63.
Menachotb, 99.
its great doctrines of the
fol.

329. strove to bring into prominence

* Mass. Sopberim, o, L in Othonis Lexicon Babbin. p.

1^
 PREFACE. XXI
XX PREFACE.

Jews knew of no seven orders of angels;

The Palestinian
Unity of the Godhead, of Creation, and Providence. All se-
hierarchy was adopted by
the classification of the celestial
condary points were allegorized or slurred over. As Pales-
Pauli from PhUo and his school The identification of idob
tinian rabbinism became essentially ceremonial, Alexandrine
Alexandrine.
with demons^ was also distinctively
Judaism became essentially spiritual. The streams of life to find in Philo, bom
But what is far more remarkable is

and thought in these members of the same race were dia-

Christ, the key to most
between thirty and forty years before
metrically opposed. of
doctrines of the aU-sufiiciency
of Paul's theology,-the
The Jews settled in Asia Minor, subjected to the same
faith, of the worthlessness
of good works, of the imputation
influences, actuated by the same motives, as the Egyptian
mediation, atonement.
of righteousness, of grace,
Jews, looked to Alexandria rather than to Jerusalem or purposeless. Paul took
But in Pliilo these doctrines drift
Babylon for guidance, and were consequently involved in the and at once they fell into
them and applied them to Christ,
same jealous dislike which fell on the Jews of Egypt. in suspension in Philo,
their ranks and places. What wbb
There can be no doubt that St. Paul was acquainted with, What the Baptist was to the Judaean
crystallized in Paul.
and influenced by, the views of the Alexandrine school. That Jews; his thoughts,
Jews, that PhUo was to the Hellenistic
he had read some of Philo's works is more than probable.
his theories, were
How much he drew from the writings of Aristobulus the " In the flecker'd dawning
Peripatetic cannot be told, as none of the books of that learned The glitterance of Christ."*

but eclectic Jew have been preserved.*

Pauline words, expressions,
The Fathers, perplexed at finding
In more than one point Paul departs from the traditional
admit that
ideas, in the writings of
Philo, and unwilling to
methods of the Palestinian rabbis, to adopt those of the
invented a myth that the
Paul had derived them from Philo,
Alexandrines. The Jews of Palestine did not admit the
was there converted to
Alexandrine Jew came to Home and
allegorical interpretation of Scripture. Paul, on two occa-
examination
the Christian faith. Chronology and a critical

sions, follows the Hellenistic mode of allegorizing the sacred

Plato have burst that bubble.*
of the writings of the Jewish
text. On one of these occasions he uses an allegory of Philo, I
saturated with the philo-
The fact that Paul was deeply
while slightly varying its application.' two
has given rise also to
sophy of the Alexandrine Jews
1 Philo is not mentioned by name once in the Talmad, nor has a single «lCor.x.21.
1 Col. 1.16.
sentiment or interpretation of an Alexandrine Jew been admitted into
» Dante, Pared, liv.
the Jemsalem or Babylonish Talmad. Moines et
discussed in M. F. Delaunay's
» Aristobulus wrote a book to proTe that the Greek sages drew their 4 See the question carefuUy
philosophy from Moses, and addressed his book to Ptolemy Philometor. Sibjlles; Paris, 1874, pp. 28 sq.

» QaL iT. 24, 25.

 XXU PREFACE.
PBEFACE. ixill

obstmate Christian legend8,_that

Dionyeius the Axeopagite
author of the Celestial 3. It has been argued with much plausibihty, that because
Hierarchy, the Divine Names,
&c certain of the primitive Fathers were unacquainted with the
^^ the disciple of St. Paul,
and that Seneca the philosopher
was also his convert and four Gospels now accounted Canonical, that therefore those
pupil Dionysius took Philo's
Gospels are compositions subsequent to their date, and that
system of the universe and
emanations from the Godhead
therefore also their authority as testimonies to the acts and
and Christianized them.
The influence of Philo on the
sayings of Jesus is sensibly weakened, if not wholly over-
system of Dionysius saute
aux yeux, as the French would thrown. It is true that there were certain Fathers of the first
say. And Dionysius protests, again and
again, in his writings
that he learned his doctrine
two centuries who were unacquainted with our Gospels, but
from St. Paul
the above conclusions drawn from this fact are unsound.
From a very early age, the Fathers
insisted on Seneca
This treatise will, I hope, establish the fact that at the
having been a convert; of St. Paul; they pointed out the
close of the first century almost every Church had its own
striking analogies in their
writings, the similarity in
their Gospel, with which alone it was acquainted. But it does not
thoughts. How
was this explicable unless one had
been the follow that these Gospels were not as trustworthy, as genuine
pupil of the other? But Seneca, we know, lived some
time records, as the four which we now alone recognize.
in Alexandria with his uncle,
Severus, prefect of Egypt; and
It is possible, from what has been preserved of some of
at that time the young
Roman, there can be Kttle question,
these lost Gospels, to form an estimate of their scope and
became acquainted with the writings
of Philo.»
Thus St. Paul, by adopting the mode
character. We find that they bore a very close resemblance
of Biblical interpre-
to the extant Synoptical Grospek, though they were by no
tation of a rival school to that
dominant in Judaa, by absorb-
means identical with them.
ing its philosophy, applying it to the person of Christ and We find that they contained most of what exists in our
the moral governance of the
Church, by associating with
three first Evangels, in exactly the same words; but that
Asiatic Jews, known to be infected
with Greek philosophic
some were fuller, others less complete, than the accepted
heresies, and by his open invocation to the GentUes to come
Synoptics.
into and share in aU the plenitude of the
privileges of the
If we discover whole paragraphs absolutely identical in the
gospel, incurred the suspicion, distrust,
dislike of the believers
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, of the Hebrews, of the
in Jerusalem, who had grown up in the midst of national pre-
Clementines, of the Lord, it goes far to prove that all the
judices which Paul shocked.
Evangelists drew upon a common fund. And if we see that,
> See, on thia enrions topi(?, C. Aabertin : Sindqae et St. Paul though using the same material, they arranged it differently,
:
^
Paris.
1872.
XXIV PREFACE.
PREFACE. XXV

we are forced to the conclusion that this material they incor-

sect ; and in the third century Eusebius was convinced that
porated in their biographies existed in anecdota, not in a
the Therapeutae, their Egyptian counterparts, were actually
consecutive narrative.
primitive Christians.*^
Some, at least, of the Gospels were in existence at the
The Essenes assembled on the Sabbath for a solemn feast,
close of the first century ; but the documents of which they in white robes, and, with faces turned to the East, sang
were composed were then old and accepted.
antiphonal hymns, broke bread and drank together of the
And though it is indisputable that in the second century
cup of love. During this solemn celebration the president
the Four had not acquired that supremacy which brought
read portions from the sacred Scriptures, and the exhorta-
about the disappearance of the other Gospels, and were there-
tions of the elders. At the Christian Eucharist the cere-
fore not quoted by the Fathers in preference to them, it is

also certain that all the material out of which both the extant
' Easeb. Hist. Eccl. ii. 17. The Bishop of Cssarea is quoting from
and the lost Synoptics were composed was then in existence, Pbilo's account of the Thenipeatis, and argues that these Alexandrine Jews
and was received in the Church as true and canonical. must hare been Christians, because their manner of life, religions customs
and doctrines, were identical with those of Christians. "Their meetings,
Admitting fully the force of modem Biblical criticism, I
the distinction of the sexes at these meetings, the religions exercises per-
cannot admit all its most sweeping conclusions, for they are formed at them, are itiU in vogue among us at the present day, and,
often, I think, more sweeping than just. especially at the commemoration of the Saviour's passion, we, like them,
pass the time in fasting and vigil, and in the study of the divine word.
The material out of which all the Synoptical Gospels,
AU these the above-named author (Philo) has accurately described in his
extant or lost, were composed, was in existence and in circu- writings, and are the tame cu»tom» that are observed hy us alone, at the

lation in the Churches in the first, century. That material present day, particularly the vigils of the great Feast, and the exercises

is —the sayings of Christ on various occasions, and the inci-

in them, and the hymns that are commonly recited among us.

that, whilst one sings gracefully with a certain measure, the others, listening
He states

IV.,
dents in his life. These sayings and doings of the Lord, I in silence, join in at the 6nal clauses of the bymns; also that, on the
see no reason to doubt, were written do^vn from the mouths above-named days, tbey lie on straw spread on the ground, and, to use bis
|J. own words, abstain altogether from wine and from flesh. Water is their
of apostles and eye-witnesses, in order that the teaching and
only drink, and the relish of their bread salt and hyssop. Besides this, he
example of Christ might be read to believers in every Church describes the grades of dignity among those who administer the ecclesi-
during the celebration of the Eucharist. astical functions committed to them, those of deacons, and the presidencies
of the episcopate as the highest. Therefore," Eusebius concludes, "it is
The early Church followed with remarkable fidelity the
obvious to all that Pbilo, when he wrote these statements, had in vieic the
customs of the Essenes, so faithfully that, as I have shown,
first herald* of the gospel, and the original practices handed down from
Josephus mistook the Nazarenes for members of the Essene the apostles."

w
XXVI PREFACE. PREFACE. XXVU

monial was identical;^ Pliny's description of a Christian

Of these, some were more complete than others, some were
assembly might be a paragraph from Josephus or Philo
composed of more unique material than the others.
describing an Essene or Therapeutic celebration. In place of The second Gospel, if we may trust Papias, and I see no
the record of the wanderings of the Israelites and the wars of
reason for doubting hiJ testimony, is the composition of
their kings being read at their conventions, the president read Mark, the disciple of St. Peter, and consists exclusively of
the journeys of the Lord, his discourses and miracles. the recollections of St. Peter. This Gospel was not co-ordi-
No f ooner was a Church founded by an apostle than there nated probably till late, till long after the disjoiuted memo-
rose a demand for this sort of instruction, and it was sup- rabilia were in circulation. It first circulated in Egypt ; but
plied by the jottings-down of reminiscences of the Lord and in at least one of the Petrine Churches —that of Ehossus
his teaching, orally given by those who had companied with the recollections of St. Peter had aheady been arranged in a
him. consecutive memoir, and, in A.D. 190, Serapion, Bishop of
Thus there sprang into existence an abundant crop of Antioch, found the Church of Ehossus holding exclusively to
memorials of the Lord, surrounded by every possible guarantee this book as a Gospel of traditional authority, received from
of their truth. And these fragmentary records passed from the prince of the apostles.
one Church to another. The pious zeal of an Antiochian The Gospel of St. Matthew, on the other hand, is a diates-
community furnished with the memorials of Peter would saron composed of four independent collections of memora-
borrow of Jerusalem the memorials of James and Matthew. bilia. . Its groundwork is a book by Matthew the apostle,

One of the traditions of Jolm found its way into the Hebrew a collection of the discourses of the Lord. Whether Mat-
Grospel —that of the visit of Nicodemus ; but it never came thew wrote also a collection of the acts of the Lord, or con-

into the possession of the compiler of the first Gospel or of tributed disconnected anecdotes of the Lord to Chiurches of

St. Luke. his founding, and these were woven in with his work on the
After a while, each Church set to work to string the ojjco- Lord's discourses, is possible, but is conjectimil only.

doia it possessed into a consecutive story, and thus the But what is clear is, that into the first Gospel was incorpo-
Synoptical Gospels came into being. rated much, not all, of the material used by Mark for the

construction of his Gospel, viz. the recollections of St. "Peter.

' It 18 deaerring of remark that the taming to the East for prayer,
evangelist did not merely amplify the Mark
That the first
common t^ the Essenea and primitive Christians, was forbidden by the
Gospel appears from his arranging, the order of his anec-
Mosaic Law and denoonced by prophets. When the Bssenes diverged from
the Law, the Christians followed their lead. dotes differently ; that he djd tise the same " anecdota " is
XXVIU PREFACE. PREFACE. XXIX

evidenced by the fact of his using them often word for gushing forth superabundance of living waters there was
its ;

word. a clashing of jets, a conflict of ripples ; but directly St. John

The Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel quoted in the gave to it its definite organization, the flood rnshed out
Clementines were composed in precisely the same manner, between these banks, obedient to a common impulse, the
and of the same materials, but not of all the same. clashing forces produced a resultant, the conflicting ripples
That the Gospel of St. Matthew, as it stands, was the blended into rhythmic waves, and the brook became a river,

composition of that apostle, cannot be seriously maintained and the river became a sea.

yet its authority as a record of facts, not as a record of their The lost Gospels are no mere literary curiosity, the exami-
chronological sequence, remains undisturbed. nation of them no barren study. They furnish us with most
The Gospel of St. Luke went, apparently, through two precious information on the manner in which all the Gospels
editions. After the issue of his original Gospel, which, were compiled ; they enable us in several instances to deter-
there is reason to believe, is that adopted
•
by Marcion, fresh mine the correct reading in our canonical Matthew and Luke;
material camo into his hands, and he revised and amplified they even supply us with particulars to fill lacunae which
his book. exist, or have been made, in our Synoptics.
That this second edition was not the product of another The poor stuff that has passed current too long among us as

hand, is shown by the fact that characteristic expressions Biblical criticism is altogether imworthy of English scholars
found in the original text occur also in the additions. and theologians. The great shafts tliat have been driven into

The Pauline character of the Luke Gospel has been fre- Christian antiquity, the mines that have been opened by the
quently commented on. It is curious to observe how much patient labours of German students, have not received suffi-

more pronounced this was in the first edition. The third cient attention at our hands. If some of our commentators
ft.-
Gospel underwent revision imder the influence of the same timorously venture to their mouths, it is only to shrink

wave of feeling which moved Luke to write the Christian back again scared at the gnomes their imagination pictures as
Odyssey, the Acts, nominally of the Apostles, really of St. haunting those recesses, or at the abysses down which they
Paul. With the imprisonment of Paul the tide turned, and may be precipitated, that they suppose lie open in those

a reconciliatoiy movement set strongly in. Into this the

Apostle of Love threw himself, and he succeeded in direct- This spirit is neither courageous nor honest God's truth

ing it. is helped by no man's ignorance.

The Apostolic Church was a well-spring tumultuonsly It may be that we are dazzled, bewildered by th6 light and
XXX PREFACE.

rnsh of new ideas exploding around us on every side ; but,

for all that, a cellar is no safe retreat. The vault will

crumble in and bury us.

The new lights that break in on us are not always the

lanterns of burglars.
CONTENTS.
I must ask the reader kindly to correct an error which
escaped my eye in correcting the proofs of the first three

sheets. On page 1, and in the heading of every even page

up to 72, for "Ante-Gospels," read "Anti-Gospels." |att iitst.

S. Baring-Gould.
TUE JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS.
PAOK
*
I.—The Silence of Josephus
ElST MeRSEA, CulCBGSTIR,
Cause of the Silence of JosephuB 12
Novtmber 27irf, 1874. n._The . .

*^
III.—The Jew of Celsus
^"
IV.—The Talmud
®'^
v.—The Counter-Gospels
"^^
VI.—The First Toledoth Jeschu
102
VII.—The Second Toledoth Jeschu

^att Sttonb.

THE LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.

Hebrews 119
I._The Gospel of the ,

193
II.—The Clementine Gospel
219
III._The Gospel of St. Peter .

223
IV.—The Gospel of the Egyptians
xxxu CONTENTS.

THE LOST PAULINE GOSPELS.

THE
L—The Gospel of the Lord 235
IL—The Gospel of Truth
278 LOST AND HOSTILE GOSPELS.
IIL—The Gospel of Eve
286
IV.—The Gospel of Perfection
292
v.—The Gospel of PhUip
293
PART I.
VI'—The Gospel of Judas
299
THE JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.

THE SILENCE OF JOSEPHT73.

It is somewhat remarkable that no contemporaiyi or

even early, account of the life of our Lord exists, except
from the pens of Christian writers.
That we have none by Roman or Greek writers is
not, perhaps, to be wondered at ; but it is singular that
neither Philo, Josephus, nor Justus of Tiberias, should
have ever alluded to Christ or to primitive Christianity.
The cause of this silence we shall presently investi-
gate. Its existence we must first prove.
PhUo was bom at Alexandria about twenty years
before Christ. In the year A.D. 40, he was sent by the
Alexandrine Jews on a mission to Caligula, to entreat
the Emperor not to put in force his order that his statue
should be erected in the Temple of Jerusalem and in all
the synagogues of the Jews.
Philo was a Pharisee. He travelled in Palestine, and
speaks of the Essenes he saw there ; but he says not a
B
 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. SILENCE OF JOSEPiroS.

word about Jesus Christ or his followers. It is possible makes no mention of him. But in the shorter work,
that he may have heard of the new sect, but he pro- the " Jewish Antiquities," in which he goes over briefly
bably concluded it was but insignificant, and consisted the same period of time treated of at length in the other
merely of the disciples, poor and ignorant, of a Galilean work, we find this passage
Rabbi, whose doctrines he, perhaps, did not stay to in-
"At this time lived Jesus, a wise man [if indeed he ought
quire into, and supposed that they did not differ funda-
to be called a man] ; for he performed wonderful works [he
mentally from the traditional teaching of the rabbis of
was a teacher of men who received the truth with gladness] ;
his day.
and he drew to him many Jews, and also many Greeks.
riavius Josephus was bom A.D. 37 consequently — [This was the Christ.] But when Pilate, at the instigation
only four years after the death of our Lord at Jeru- — of our chiefs, had condemned him to crucifixion, they who
salem. Till the age of twenty-nine, he lived in Jeru- had at first loved Jiim did not cease ; [for he appeared to
salem, and had, therefore, plenty of opportunity of them on the third day again aUve for the divine prophets ;

learning about Christ and early Christianity.
In A.D. Josephus became governor of Galilee, on
67,
the occasion of the Jewish insurrection against the
had foretold this, together with many other wonderful tilings
concerning him], and even to this time the community of
^
Christians, called after him, continues to exist."

Eoman domination. After the fall of Jerusalem he been almost imiver-

That this passage is spurious has
passed into the service of Titus, went to Rome, where
sally acknowledged. One may be, perhaps, accused of
he rose to honour in the household of Vespasian and of
killing dead birds, if one again examines and discredits
Titus, A.D. 81. The year of his death is not known.
the passage ; but as the silence of Josephus on the sub-
He was alive in A.D. 93, for his biography is carried
ject which we are treating is a point on which it will be
down to that date.
we cannot omit as brief a discussion
necessary to insist,
Josephus wrote at Rome his " History of the Jewish
as possible of this celebrated passage.
War," in seven books, in his own Aramaic language.
The passage is first quoted by Eusebius (fl. A.D. 315)
This he finished in the year A.D. 75, and then trans-
in two places,^ but it was unknown to Justin Martyr
lated it into Greek. On the completion of this work he (H. A.D. 140), Clement of Alexandria (fl. A.D. 192),
wrote his " Jewish Antiquities," a history of the Jews
in twenty books, from the beginning of the world to the * rtvtrai it Kari rovrov riv xpovov 'IijffoDc, aofht iv>)p, lift avipa

abrhv Xifiiv XPV' ^^ f^P irapaSoluv ipyuv iroiijr^c, iiidaKoXoc

twelfth year of the reign of Nero, A.D. 66. He com-
pleted this work in the year A.D. 93, concluding it with
a biography of liimself. He also wrote a book against
Apion on the antiquity of the Jewish people. A book in
ivOpiiiruv Tuv ij^ovy r' dXqd>/ itxofuvuV xal jroXXouf fiiv 'lovSaiovs,
iroXXoic ii «<«« "•' "EXXijviicoS liriydyeTO. 'O Xptarog oiros ijv. Kal
airbv iphllu Tuiv npiiiroif ivipiav wap' ijpv aravpif ^jririn/iiiriroc
UiXdrou, owe IvavaavTO o'i yt wpiaTov aMv
AyavrfaaVTii- i^avt] yap

avTo'tc rplrijv fx"" VI^P"^ jraXcv CuJr, tiSv iiluv irpo^ijruv roura
praise of the Maccabees has been attributed to him, but vvv Tuv
Tt rai aXXo /ivpla iavitdma vipl aiiTOv iipijcorwV tic in
without justice. In the first of these works, the larger XpKfTtavuv dn-i Tovit itvoitaofiivuiv oit irriMiri rJ fvXov. —^Lib. XTiiL

of the two, the " History of the Jewish War," he treats e. iii. 3.

of the very period when our Lord lived, and in it he • Hist. EccL lib. i. c. 11 ; Demonst. Evang. lib. iiL

B 2
4 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS.

Tertullian A.D. 193), and Origen (fl. A.D. 230). Such

(fl.
which Jews was, as he afterwards relates, that
befel the
a testimony would certainly have been produced by Tiberius drove them out of Rome. The reason
of this
Justin in his Apology, or in his Controversy with was, he says, that a noble Roman lady who had become
Trypho the Jew, had it existed in the copies of Jose- the temple at
a proselyte had sent gold and purple to
phus at his time. The silence of Origen is still more Jerusalem. But this reason is not sufficient. It is

significant. Celsus in his book against Christianity sacerdotal fraud—

clear from what precedes— a story of
introduces a Jew. Origen attacks the arguments of that there was some connection between the incidents
Celsus and his Jew. He could not have failed to quote in the mind of Josephus. Probably the Jews had been
the words of Josephus, whose writings he knew, had guilty of religious deceptions in Rome,
and had made a
demons, with
the passage existed in the genuine text.^ business of performing cures and expelling
Again, the paragraph interrupts the chain of ideas in and for this had obtained
talismans and incantations,
the original text. Before this passage comes an account rich payment.^
of how Pilate, seeing there was a want of pure drinking passage
From the connection that exists between the
the Jews" and
water in Jerusalem, conducted a stream into the city about the "other misfortune that befel
from a spring 200 stadia distant, and ordered that the the former one about the riot suppressed
by Pilate, it
the paragraph con-
cost should be defrayed out of the treasury of the appears evident that the whole of
Temple. This occasioned a riot. Pilate disguised cerning our Lord is an interpolation.
passage as
Eoman with swords under their cloaks,
soldiers as Jews, That Josephus could not have written the
and sent them among the rabble, with orders to arrest it stands, is clear
enough, for only a Christian would
Josephus was
the ringleaders. speak of Jesus in the terms employed.
he shows in aU his
This was done. The Jews finding themselves set a Pharisee and a Jewish priest;

upon by other Jews, fell into confusion; one Jew at- writings that he believes in Judaism.
Josephus may have
tacked another, and the whole company of rioters melted It has been suggested that
quoted, but that
away. " And in this manner," says Josephus, " was this written about Christ as in the passage
are the interpolations ot
insurrection suppressed." Then follows the paragraph the portions within brackets
these portions within
about Jesus, beginning, "At this time lived Jesus, a a Christian copyist. But when
loses aU its interest,
wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man," &c. brackets are removed, the passage
the sort of notice
And the passage is immediately followed by, "About and is a dry statement utterly unlike
this time another misfortune threw the Jews into dis- Josephus would have been likely to
insert He gives
i narratives, his incidents are always
sketched
turbance; and in Eome an event happened in the colour to his
temple of Isis which produced great scandal." And
546. " Aere minuto qtialiacunqne Toles Jnd»i
then he tells an indelicate story of religious deception 1 Javenal, Satir. vi.

The Emperor,, later, issued f°™f\

which need not be repeated here. The misfortune «,n.n5« Tendunt." '
"f™ Joseph".
^'^'"f ^JT
teU.
disease. (Digest. Kb. i. tit. 13, ..1).
who charmed away De BeUo Jnd.
a demon by incantations.
* He indeed distinctly a£Srms that Josepbua did not beliere in Clirist, the Btory of Bleaiar di^posseming
Antiq. lib. viii. c. 2.
Contr. Cels. i. lib. TiL 6 ;
 '
6 JEWISH AITTE-GOSPELS. SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS.

the same blow, united in the

same antipathies. The
with vigour ; would be meagre beside those
this account
the part they had
of the riot of the Jews and the rascality of the priests Pharisees were disposed to regret
and to acknowledge
of Isis. Josephus asserts, moreover, that in his time taken in putting Jesus to death,
The Jewish
there were four sects among the Jews —
the Pharisees, that he had been a good and
great Eabbi.
exalted claims for the
the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the sect of Judas of Nazarenes, on their side, made no
God, and later even,
Gamala. He gives tolerably copious particulars about Lord as being the incarnate Son of
Homdies, refused to
these sects and their teachings, but of the Christian sect as we learn from the Clementine
dividing the Nazarene
he says not a word. Had he wished to write about it, admit his divinity. The question
one of whether Christ
he would have given full details, likely to interest his from the Jew graduaUy became
not; and the Phari-
readers, and not have dismissed the subject in a couple was to be recognized as a prophet or
or some of them at least,
were disposed to allow
of lines. sees,

It was perhaps felt by the early Christians that the as much as this. t "f
.

that I thmk
i.i-- i
it
silence of Josephus — so famous an and a Jew
historian, It was under this conciliatory feeling
made, at first hy a Jew,
—on the life, miracles and death of the Founder of probable the interpolation was
by a Christian. I think
Christianity, was extremely inconvenient the fact but afterwards it was amplified
;
the only
this probable, the fact of its not being
from
could not faU to be noticed by their adversaries. Some
Suidas has an article
interpolation of the sort effected.
Cliristian transcriber may have argued, Either Josephus
" Jesus," in which he tells us that Josephus
knew nothing of the miracles performed by —inChrist, on the name
sacrificed with the priests
which case he is a weighty testimony against them, —or mentions him, and says that he
from an interpolated copy of
in the temple. He quoted
he must have heard of Jesus, but not have deemed his
could not have been
they were related to him, of sufficient importance Josephus, and this interpolation
acts, as
Nazarene" Christian not
made by either a Gentile or a
:

to find a place in his History. Arguing thus, the copjdst

statement would have been
took the opportunity of rectifying the omission, written by a Gentae, for such a
pointless, purposeless to
him; and it could not have
from the standpoint of a Pharisee, and therefore desig- for the Nazarenes as
will
been made by a Nazarene,
nating the Lord as merely a wise man. strongly opposed to the sacri-
presently be shown, were
But there another explanation of this interpolation,
is
temple. The interpolation must
ficial system in the
which will hardly seem credible to the reader at this by a Jew with
therefore have been made by a Jew, and
stage of the examination, viz. that it was inserted by a
a conciliatory purpose. , ,, „i„Hnn
"Pharisee after the destruction of Jerusalem; and this is
• .

It is curious to note the

use made of the interpolation
the. explanation I am inclined to adopt. At that time after quoting it, says,
now found in the text. Eusebius,
there was a mutual tendency to sink their differences, transmitted to us Dy
"When such testimony as this is
and unite, in the Nazarene Church and the Jews. The the Hebrews themselves,
aa historian who sprang from
cause of this will be given further on ; sufficient for our Saviour, what sub-
respecting John the Baptist and the
purpose that such a tendency did exist. Both Jew and
Nazarene were involved in the same exile, crushed by
8 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS.

terfuge can be left them to prevent them from being this, and is quoted by Eusebius
Alexandria confirms
covered with confusion?"* accordingly. ^ , -.i ,.

Josephus without
There is one other mention of Christ in the "Antiqui- Eusebius quotes the passage from
ties" (lib. XX. c. 9): noticing that the two accounts
do not agree. Accordmg
St. James sufiered
" Ananus, the younger, of whom I have related that he to the statement of Hegesippus,
several other
had obtained the office of high-priest, was of a rash and alone; according to that of Josephus,
of Ananus perished
with
daring character ; he belonged to the sect of the Sadducees, victims to the anger or zeal
which, as I have already remarked, exhibited especial severity
copies of Josephus were
in the discharge of justice.Being of such a character, Ananus ^'Tt appears that some of the
Theopbylact says, The
thought the time when Festus was dead, and Albinus was tampered with by copyists, for
Jews) when their city
yet upon the road, a fit opportunity for calling a council of wrath of God feU on them (the
that these things
judges, and for bringing before them James, the brother of was taken ; and Josephus testifies
death of Jesus
him who is called Christ, and some others he accused them :
happened to them on account of the
says, "This writer,
as transgressors of the law, and had them stoned to death. But Origen, speaking of Josephus,
But the most moderate men of the city, who also were to be the Christ, in-
thouah he did not believe Jesus
reckoned most learned in the law, were offended at this pro- overthrow of Jerusalem
quiring into the cause of the
ceeding. They therefore sent privately to the king (Agrippa temple .... «^y«' ^hese
and the demoUtion of the the
II.), entreating him to send orders to Ananus not to attempt vindication of J^mes called
tilings befel the Jews in
such a thing again, for he had no right to do it. And some of Jesus, caUed the
Chfist,
Just, who was the brother
to meet Albinus, then coming fxoja Alexandria, and put righteous
went
forasmuch as they kdled him who was a most
him in mind that Ananus was not justified, without his con- we have seen, says nothmg ot
man'"* Josephus, as
sent, in assembling a court of justice. Albinus, approving
Origen must have quoted
from
said, angrily wrote to Ananus, and threatened him
the sort; consequently
what they this interpolation
sv^ered
with punishment; and king Agrippa took from him his office an interpolated copy. And substitution
of high-priest, and gave it to Jesus, the son of Donnaeus." Lher iteration, by a later hand, by the
of the of Jesus for that of James.
name
means unlikely that the name
of
This passageis also open to objection.
It is therefore by no
According to Hegesippus, a Jewish Christian, who have been mserted the m
James, the Lord's brother, may
wrote a'History of the Church about the year A.D. 170, dealing of Ananus place m
account of the high-handed
of which fragments have been preserved by Eusebiua, of another name. .,
to reconcile
St. James was killed in a tumult, and not by sentence However, it is by no means impossible
of a court. He relates that James, the brother of Jesus,
„, • At .„J o«.in ii 13- " This (JeBtmotion), as Jose-
was thrown down from a wing of the temple, stoned,
and finally despatched with a fuller's club. Clement of
> Hist. EccL i. 11. Bon of God."
B 3
 SILENCE OF JOSEPUUS. 11
10 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.

Photius had read his History, and was

surprised to find
the two accounts. The martyrdom of St. James is an
made no mention of Christ. "This
and that he, also,
historical fact, have taken place
it is likely to
Jewish historian," says he, "does not make the
smallest
during the time when Ananus had the power in his
nothing
hands. mention of the appearance of Christ, and says
For fifty years the pontificate had been in the same
1 \ whatever of his deeds and miracles."'
family, with scarcely an interruption, and Ananus, or • Bibliotbec. cod. 33.
Hanan, was the son of Annas, who had condemned
Christ. They were Sadducees, and as such were per-
secuting. St. Paul, by appealing to his Pharisee prin-

ciples, enlisted the members of that faction in his favour

when brought before Ananias.^
The apostles based their teaching on the Eesurrec-
tion, the very doctrine most repugnant to the Saddu-
cees ; and their accounts of visions of angels repeated
among the people must have irritated the dominant
faction who denied the existence of these spirits. It
can hardly be matter of surprise that the murder of
James should have taken place when Ananus was
supreme in Jerusalem. If that were the case, Jose-
phus no doubt mentioned James, and perhaps added
;
the words, " The brother of him who is called Christ
or these words may have been inserted by a transcriber
in place of " of Sechania," or Bar-Joseph.
This is aU that Josephus says, or is thought to have
said,about Jesus and the early Christians.
Atthe same time as Josephus, there lived another
Jewish historian, Justus of Tiberias, whom Josephus
mentions, and blames for not having published his
History of the "Wars of the Jews during the life of
Vespasian and Titus. St. Jerome includes Justus in his
Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers, and Stephen of By-
zantium mentions him.
His book, or books, have unfortunately been lost, but

* Acts xxiii.
\
 CAUSE OF THE SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS. 13

of Christ, and peopled the quiet deserts on the west of

the Dead Sea, a wilderness to which the Christian monks
afterwards seceded from the cities of Palestine. They
are thus described by the elder Pliny

II. li . " the western shore of that lake dwell the Essenes, at
On
a sufficient distance from the water's edge to escape its pesti-
THE CAUSE OF THE SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS. lential exhalations —
a race entirely unique, and, beyond
every other in the world, deserving of wonder ; men living
It is necessary to inquire, Why this silence of Philo,
among palm-trees, without wives, without money. Every
Josephus and Justus ? at first so inexplicable.
day their number is replenished by a new troop of settlers,
It can only be answered by laying before the reader a for those join them who have been visited by the reverses of
picture of the Christian Church in the first century. A fortune, who are tired of the world and its style of living.
criticalexamination of the writings of the fiirst age of Thus happens what might seem incredible, that a community
the Church reveals unexpected disclosures. in which no one is bom continues to subsist through the
1. It shows us that the Church at Jerusalem, and ; 1
lapse of centuries."
*

throughout Palestine and Asia Minor, composed of con-

verted Jews, was to an external observer indistinguish- From this first seat of the Essenes colonies detached

able from a modified Essenism. themselves, and settled in other parts of Palestine; they

2. And that the difiFerence between the Gentile .

settled not only in remote and solitary places, but in
the midst of villages and towns. In Samaria they
Church founded by St. Paul, and the Nazarene Church
flourished.^ According to Josephus, some of the Essenes
under St. James and St. Peter, was greater than that
which separated the latter from Judaism externally, so were willing to act as magistrates, and it is evident that
that to a superficial observer their inner connection was such as lived in the midst of society could not have fol-
unsuspected. lowed the strict rule imposed on the solitaries. There
This applies to the period from the Ascension to the must therefore have been various degrees of Essenism,
close of the first centuiy, —
to the period, that is, in
some severer, more exclusive than the others; and Jose-
phus distinguishes four such classes in the sect. Some
which Josephus and Justus lived, and about which •

of the Essenes remained celibates, others married.The

they wrote.
1. Our knowledge of the Essenes and their doctrines
more exalted and exclusive Essenes would not touch one
of the more lax brethren.'
is, unfortunately, not as full as we could wisL We
are confined to the imperfect accounts of them fur-
17 Epiphan. adr. Hseres. xix, 1.
> Plin. Hist. Nat. t. ;

nished by Philo and Josephus, neither of whom knew * Epipban. adr. Hcres. z.
them thoroughly, or was initiated into their secret * For information on the Essenes, the anthoritiea are, Philo, Uipl roB
doctrines. rdvTa arovtaiov tlvtu IKiiOipov, and Josephns, De Bello Jadaico, and

The Essenes arose about two centuries before the birth Antiq.
 14 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.
CAUSE OF THE SaENCE OF JOSEPHUS. 15
The Essenes had a common treasuiy, formed by
throwing together the property of His miracles of healing also, to the ordinary observer,
such as entered into
the society, and by the earnings him with the sect which made healing
served to identify
of each man's labour ^
They wore simple habits—only such the great object of their study.
clothing as was
necessary for covering nakedness But these were not the only points of connection be-
and giving protection
from the cold or heat.'' tween him and the Essenes. The Essenes, instead of
They forbad oaths, holding the narrow prejudices of the Jews against Sama-
their conversation bein^r « yea
o j .y vea, ritans and Gentiles, extended their philanthropy to alL
and nay, nay." 3
Their diet was confined to simple They considered that all men had been made in the
nourishing food
and they abstained from delicacies.* image of God, tliat all were rational beings, and that
They exhibited the greatest respect for the therefore God's care was not confined to the Jewish
constituted nation, salvation was not limited to the circumci-
authorities, and refrained from taking
any part in the sion.^
political intrigues, or sharing in
the political jealousies,
which were The Essenes, moreover, exhibited a peculiar venera-
rife among the Jews.^
They tion for light. It M'as their daily custom to turn their
and were incessant at prayer, but with-
fasted,
out the ostentation that marked the faces devoutly towards the rising of the sun, and to
Pharisees.^
They seem to have greatly devoted themselves chant hymns addressed to that luminary, purporting
to the
cure of diseases, and, that his beams ought to fall on nothing impure.
if we may trust the derivation
of If we look at the Gospels, we cannot fail to note how
their name given by Josephus, they were called Essenes
incessantly Christ recurs in his teaching to light as the
front their being the healers of men's minds and symbol of the truth he taught,^ as that in which his dis-
bodies.'
ciples were to walk, of which they were to be children,
If now we look at our blessed Lord's teaching, we which they were to strive to obtain in all its purity and
find in it much in common with that of the Essenes.
brilliancy.
The same insisting before the multitude on purity of The Essenes, moreover, had their esoteric doctrine; to \\
thought, disengagement of affections from the
world,
the vulgar they had an exoteric teaching on virtue and
disregard of wealth and clothing and delicate food,
pur- disregard of the world, whilst among themselves they
suit of inward piety instead of ostentatious
formalism. had a secret lore, of which, unfortunately, we know
» Compare Luke i. 4 John
nothing certain. In like manner, we find our Lord
; xii. 6, xiii. 29 ; llatt. xii. 21 : Act* ii
44, 45, iv. 32, 34, 37. speaking in parables to the multitude, and privately
• Compare Matt. tL 28—34 ; Luke xii. 22—30. revealing their interpretation to lus chosen disciples.
• Compare Matt t. 34. "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the
• Compare Matt. n. 25, 31 ; Luke xii. 22, 23. kingdom of God, but to others in parables ; that seeing
• Compare Matt. it. 15—22.
• Compare Matt ti. 1—18.
' Compare Lnke x. 25 —37 ; Mark vii. 26.

^ From SDM, meaning the same as the Greek Therapeata.

• Matt It. 16, t. 14, 16, ti. 22 ; Lnke ii. 32, Tiii. 16, xi. 23, iri. 8
John i. 4—9, iii. 19—21, viii. 12, ii. 5, xi. 9, 10, xii. 35—46.
16 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. CAUSE OF THE SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS. 17
f
they might not see, and hearing they might not under- In another point Nazarene Christianity resembled
stand." Essenism, in the poverty of its members, their simplicity
The Clementines, moreover, preserve a saying of our in dress and in diet, their community of goods. This
Lord, contained in the Gospel in use among the Ebio- we learn from Hegesippus, who represents St. James,
nites, " Keep the mysteries for me, and for the sons of Bishop of Jerusalem, as truly an ascetic as any mediaeval
my house." ^
monk; and from the Clementines, which make St. Peter
The Essenes, though showing great veneration for the feed on olives and bread only, and wear but one coat
Mosaic law, distinguished between its precepts, for some The name of Ebionite, which was given to the Naza-
they declared were interpolations, and did not belong to renes, signified " the poor."
the original revelation; all the glosses and traditions of There was one point more of resemblance, or possible
the Rabbis they repudiated, as making the true Word of resemblance, but this was one not likely to be observed
none effect.^ Amongst other things that they rejected [I
by those without. The Therapeutse in Egypt, who were
was the system of the Law. They regarded
sacrificial apparently akin to the Essenes in Palestine, at their
this with the utmost horror, and would not be present at sacred feasts ate bread and salt. Salt seems to have
any of the sacrifices. They sent
gifts to the Temple, but been regarded by them with religious superstition, as
never any might be shed. To the
beast, that its blood being an antiseptic, and symbolical of purity.^
ordinary worsliip of the Temple, apart from the sacrifices, Perhaps the Essenes of Judaea also thus regarded, and
they do not seem to have objected. The Clementine ceremonially used, salt. We have no proof, it is true ;
Homilies carry us into the very heart of Ebionite Chris- but it is not improbable.
tianity in the second, if not the first century, and show Now one of the peculiarities of the Ebionite Church
us what was the Church of St. James and St. Peter, the in Palestine, as revealed to us by the Clementines, was
Church of the Circumcision, with its peculiarities and the use of salt with the bread in their celebrations of
prejudices intensified by isolation and opposition. In the Holy Communion.^
that curious book we find the same hostility to the sacri- But if Christ and the early Church, by their teaching
ficial system of Moses, the same abhorrence of blood- and practice, conformed closely in many things to the
shedding in the service of God. This temper of mind doctrine and customs of the Essenes, in some points
can only be an echo of primitive Nazarene Christianity, they differed from them. The Essenes were strict Sab-
for in the second century the Temple and its sacrifices batarians. On the seventh day they would not move a
were no more. ii.
vessel from one place to another, or satisfy any of the
Primitive Jewish Christianity, therefore, reproduced wants of nature. Even the sick and dying, rather than
what was an essential feature of Essenism a rejeotiou — • The reference to salt as an iUnstration by Christ {Matt. y. 13 ; M.irk
of the Mosaic sacrifices. with this.
ix. 49, 50 ; Lnke iIt. 34) deserves to be noticed in connection
* Lnke Tiii. 10 ; Mark it. 12 ; Matthew xiii. 11—16. h • Clem. Homil. xiv. 1 " Peter came several hours after, and breaking
:

* Clem. HomiL zix. 20. bread for the Eucharist, and putting salt upon it, gave it first to our
' Compare Matt. xt. 3, 6. mother, and after her, to as, her sons."
 18 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.
CAUSE OF THE SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS. 19
break the Sabbath, abstained from
meat and drink on
that day. Christ's teaching was therefore the resurrection of all men was possible.^ The
very different from this
he ate, walked about, taught, and performed doctrine of the Resurrection was held most zealously by
miracles on
the Sabbath. the Pharisees it was opposed by the Sadducees. This
But though he relaxed the severity of ob-
;

servance, he did not abrogate the vehement proclamation of the disputed doctrine, this
institution; and the
Nazarene Church, after the Ascension, continued production of evidence which overthrew it, irritated the
to vene-
rate and observe the Sabbath as of Sadducees then in power. We are expressly told that
divine appointment.
The observance of the Lord's-day was apparently they "came upon them (the apostles), being grieved
due that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus
to St. Paul alone, and sprang up in
the Gentile churches^
m Asia Minor and Greece of his founding.
When the
the Resurrection." This led to persecution of the

churches of Peter and Paul were reconcUed apostles. But the apostles, in maintaining the doctrine
and fused of the Resurrection, were fighting the battles of the
together at the close of the century, under
the influence
Pharisees, who took their parts against the dominant
of St. John, both days were observed
side by side ; and
the Apostolical Constitutions represent
Sadducee faction,^ and many, glad of a proof which would
St Peter
and St. overthrow Sadduceeism, joined the Church.^
Paul in concord decreeing, "Let the slaves
work five We can therefore perfectly understand how the Sad-
days; but on the Sabbath-day and the Lord's-day
let ducees hated and persecuted the apostles, and how the
them have leisure to go to church for instruction and
orthodox Pharisees were disposed to haU them as auxili-
piety. We have said that the Sabbath is to
be observed
aries against the common enemy. And Sadduceeism was
on account of the Creation, and the Lord's-day
on .at that time in fuU power and arrogance, exercising
account of the Resurrection." *
intolerable tyranny.
After the Ascension, the Christian Church in Jeru-
Herod the Great, having fallen in love with Mariamne,
salem attended the services in the Temple ' daily, as did
daughter of a certain Simon, son of Boethus of Alexan-
the devout Jews. There is, however, no proof that they
dria; desired to marry her, and saw no other means of
assisted at the sacrifices. They continued to circumcise
ennobling his father-in-law than by elevating him to
their children ; they observed the Mosaic distinction of
the office of high-priest (B.C. 28). This intriguing family
meats ; they abstained from things strangled and fix)m
maintained possession of the high-priesthood for thirty-
blood.*
five years. It was like the Papacy in the house of Tus-
The doctrine of the apostles after the descent of the
culum, or the primacy of the Irish Church in that of
Holy Ghost was founded on the Eesurrection. They
the princes of Armagh. Closely allied to the reigning
went everywhere preaching the Eesurrection they ;
family, it lost its hold of the high-priesthood on the
claimed to be witnesses to it, they declared that Jesus
deposition of Archelaus, but recovered it in A.D. 42.
had risen, they had seen liim after he had risen, that
This family, called Boethusim, formed a sacerdotal
' Acta XX. 7 ; 1 Cor. xtI. 2 ; Rer. L 9.
• Const. Apost. lib. riii. 33. > Acts i. 22, iv. 2, 33, xxiii. 6.
» Acts iL 46. 1, t. 42. «
iii. Acts xt. ', Acts xxiii. 7. ' Acts xt. 6.

8? '
 OF JOSEPHUS.
21
CAUSE OF THE SILENCE

—^
20 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.
^;jr^—;;^-^^—
nobility, filling all the offices of trustand emolument ^''"Tthe
theJewishbebeversa^^^^^^^^^
Pharisee
broken as yet; if
about the Temple, very worldly, supremely indifferent tfig^^^^^^^^^
had not a common enemy ^^^ .^
to their religious duties, and defiantly sceptical. They
were Sadducees, denying angel, and devil, and resurrec-
tion; living in easy self-indulgence; exasperating the
Pharisees by their heresy, grieving the Essenes by their
irreligion.
In the face of the secularism of the ecclesiastical rulers,
the religious zeal of the people was sure to break out in
some form of dissent.
John the Baptist was the St. Francis of Assisi, the
Wesley of his time. If the Baptist was not actually an
Essene, he was regarded as one by the indiscriminating
public eye, never nice in detecting minute dogmatic dif-
P^^--iP'-'-^"'Z:i^M^^ ^t first, and

ferences, judging only by external, broad resemblances

of practice.
The ruling worldliness took alarm at his bold denun-
ciations of evil, and his head felL
%t: ?pX at Jen.,*, were not dis^-^^^^f
Jesus of Nazareth seemed to stand forth occupying
the same post, to be the mouthpiece of the long-brooding qnixementsotthatUw whicht^^ .
^^^ ^^ ^^_
discontent; and the alarmed party holding the high- but "•«?""""
by human glosses; . .
, [„mthe
priesthood and the rulership of the Sanhedrim compassed
his death. To the Sadducean Boethusim, who rose into
4rts most abstain from
^^^^^^f^L torn
power again in A.D. 42, Christianity was stiU obnoxious, rd'^rr.l^tTt.lr^'eZt^whlch'ep.sent
but more dangerous for by falling back on the grand
doctrine of Resurrection,
;

it united with it the great sect

ru^e^ted '^^^^1 s;r:o^r
of the Pharisees.
Under these circumstances the Pharisees began to
regret the condemnationand death of Christ as a mistake
of policy. Under provocation and exclusion from office,
they were glad to unite with the Nazarene Church in
^SJ°^:[c=tS';'ant:ne,™oisand
combating the heretical sect and family wliich mono- sabbaths. o*
is the rule
TTnmiUca^ "is
polized the power, just as at the present day in Germany ^" ' says
"This," St. Peter, m the Homilies,
•' » Clem. HomU. til 8.
Ultramontanism and Radicalism are fraternizing. Jeru- » Acts IT. 29.

salem fell, and Sadduceeism fell with it, but the link
 22 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. CAUSE OP THE SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS. 23

divine appointment. To worship God only, and " an idol nothing

trust only men ate sacrificial meat or not, for is
in the Prophet of Truth, and to be baptized for the remission
in the world." Yet with tender care for scrupulous
of sins, to abstain from the table of devils, that is, food offered
Bouls, he warned his disciples not to flaunt their liberty
to idols, from dead carcases, from animals that have been
in the eyes of the sensitive, and offend weak consciences.
suffocated or mangled by vrild beasts, and from blood ; not
to live impurely to be careful to wash when unclean
He may have thus allowed, in opposition to the apostles
; that sense got the better
;
at Jerusalem, because his common
the women keep the law of purification that all be sober-
j
of his prudence. But the result was the widening of
minded, given to good works, refrain from wrong-doing, look
for eternal life horn the all-powerful God, and ask with prayer the breach that had opened at Antioch when he with-
and continual supplication that they may win it."
stood Peter to the face.
The apostles had abolished circumcision as a rite to
These simple and not very intolerable requirements
be imposed on the Gentile proselytes, but the children
nearly produced a schism. St. Paul took the lead in
of Jewish believers were still submitted by their
parents,
rejecting some of the restraints imposed by the apostles
with the consent of the apostles, to the Mosaic institu-
at Jerusalem. He had no patience with their minute This St. Paul would not endure. He made it a
tion.
prescriptions about meats " Touch not, taste not, handle
matter of vital importance. " Behold, I, Paul, say unto
:

not, which all are to perish with the using." ^ It was

you, that ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you
if
inconvenient for the Cliristian invited to supper to have
nothing. For I testify again to every man that is
cir-
to make inquiries if the ox had been knocked down, or Christ
cumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
the fowl had had its neck wrung, before he could eat whosoever of you are
is become of no effect unto you,
What right had the apostles to impose restrictions on
,

from grace." ^ In a
justified by the law ; ye are fallen
conjugal relations Paul waxed hot over this. " Ye
? St. but otherwise harm-
word, to submit to this unpleasant,
observe days and months and times and years. I am
less ceremony, was equivalent to renouncing Christ,
afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in
losing the favour of God and the grace of the Holy
vain."^ " Let no man judge you in meat or in drink, or The blood of
Spirit. It was incurring damnation.
in respect of an holiday, or of the new moons, or of the his holy example, could
Christ, his blessed teaching,
sabbath-days."' It was exactly these sabbaths and new "profit nothing" to the unfortunate child which had
moons on which the Nazarene Church imposed restraint
been submitted to the knife of the circumciser.
on married persons.* As for meat offered in sacrifice to •
The contest was carried on with warmth. St. Paul,
idols, St.Paul relaxed the order of the apostles assem- in his Epistle to the Galatians, declared his independ-
bled in council. It was no matter of importance whether ence of the Jewish-Christian Church ; his Gospel was
» Col. iL 21. not that of Peter and James. Those who could not
' Oal. ir. 10. Wlien it is seen in the Clementines how important the symbolize with him he pronounced "accursed." The
observance of these days was thought, what a fundamental principle it wss
pillar apostles, James, Cephas and John, had given, in-
of Nazarenism, I think it cannot be doubted that it was against this thut
Apostle of
deed, the right hand of fellowship to the
St. Paul wrote.
* Col. ii. 16. * Clement. Homil. xix. 22.
> Gal. T. 2—4.
 OF JOSErUUS. 25
24 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. CAUSE OF THE SILENCE
:j.
strain of fiery excitement
when they imposed on we see St. Paul
„ cjf "o in a
^au writincr
the Gentiles, his converts from ^^^^.^ ,f y^ con-
heathenism the light rule of abstinence from sacrificial
J
aga.nBt those ^l"';",^;^^^^^ Council of
y^„^^, ,,,], of the
meats, blood and fornication but it was with the under- verts,
;
-P«-"f;; 7j:f St. Peter and St. James are
standing that he was to preach to the Gentiles exclu-
t;r^:^a^l:^'-^-itch'..se^^^^^^^^
sively, and not to interfere with the labours of St. Peter
and St. James among the Jews. But St. Paul was im-
patient of restraint he would not be bound to confine
;
of Christ to
thim from the grace
"trouble" his Htt^e
Church
-other Go^l
- .s J
^^^^{^
,
«

his teaching to the uncircumcision, nor would he allow

his Jewish converts to be deprived of their right to that
full and frank liberty wliich he supposed the Gospel to
proclaim.
Paul's followers assumed a distinct name, arrogated
"^IJ^assumcd a position c.1.^^^^^^
to themselves the exclusive right to be entitled " Chris-

^^z::^^^-'
I

they flung on the old apostolic community

tians," whilst laced ^^-^ ^^^^-

of Nazarenes the disdainful title of " the Circumcision."

An attempt was made to maintain a decent, superficial
unity, by the rival sj'stems keeping geographically sepa-
rate. But such a compromise was impossible. Wherever cur ro
the Law ^..s a ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^
Jews accepted the doctrine that Christ was the Messiah grace ;

redeemed mrtn. T-^^^^^^^^ Men

there would be found old-fashioned people clinging to ^^^^^, ^^^, .^vet.

the customs of their childhood respecting Moses, and

'^t^ltla:
under the Lau were
t:^^^. - ^ts re,uircmeuts. as a
reverencing the Law ; to whom the defiant use of meats
woman is bound J
to a lius'.an^J^^
^
.
^^ ^^^ jj^es, but
^^^^
they had been taught to regard as imclean would be
ever repulsive, and flippant denial of the Law under
which the patriarchs and prophets had served God must
Such would naturally form a of the law. But the
ever prove offensive.
Judaizing party, —a party not disposed to force their
^'T
13 dead. tlTe infraction
was tue
Sin ^^s __
^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^

and prejudices on the Gentile converts, but law being ^^^^^'/"^ imputed where there is
modes of life ;^f.7;t
who did not wish to dissociate Christianity from Mosaism,
who would view the Gospel as the sweet flower that had being dead
from the law, that
blossomed from the stem of the Law, not as an axe laid
"now we ailr^red
wherein we were held. reverenced and ob-
at its root.
But the attempt to reconcile both parties was impos-
sible at that time, in the heat, intoxication and extrava-
gance of controversy. In the Epistle to the Galatians c
 JOSEPHUS. 27
26 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. CAUSE OF THE SILENCE OF

of any wish to relax the

naturally excited alarm and indignation among those Yet he was as guUtless
was, in later days his grea^
who followed the more temperate teaching of Peter and restraints of morality as
Each rose up agams a n^r^ow
James and John. counterpart Luther.
the liberty of t - C^^^^^^^^^^^
The converts of St. Paul, in their eagerness to mani- formalism, and proclaimed
ceremonial ; but there were
fest theiremancipation from the Law, rolled up ceremo- from obligation to barren
those in the sixteenth
nial and moral restrictions in one bundle, and flung both IZein fhe first, as there were
who found
clean away. c ntur^ with
ceniury, « more zeal than self-control,
nnlv" a comfortable doc-
The Corinthians, to show their freedomimder the " Justification by i?„:fK
Faith only * very ,
J^^^;" to a sensual
of accommodatmg itself
Gospel, boasted their licence to commit incest "such trine, quite capable
as was not so much as named among the Gentiles." ^

Nicolas, a hot Pauline, and his followers " rushed liead- "rSty have seen, and probably
would never make way if
did see, that
one part of the
long into fornication without shame ;" ^ he had the C»Lity
by legal restrictions, and
effrontery to produce his wife and offer her for promis- community was to be fettered
cuous insiUt before the assembled apostles * the later ;
Hher part was to be free. Accor^^^^/^V^S
Pauline Christians went further. The law was, it was apparent in the minds of
J^'^^^^^.f/^'^'' '^'^^^^^
Jews, building up tetian
agreed, utterly bad, but it was promulgated by God; converts were to remain
prescriptions, whilst^e
therefore the God of the Law was not the same deity as Tth on the foundation of legal
to start from a different pomt
the God of the Gospel, but another inferior being, the Gentile converts were th
the Church under
Demiurge, whose province was rule, discipline, restraint, S^e could be no unity in
the I.w. or --t A^ng^t
whereas the God of the Gospel was the God of absolute system-aU must go under withfsuch an
cradle
freedom and unrestrained licence. off Church, starting from her
The die pre-
her constitution, must
They refused to acknowledge any Scriptures save the element of weakness in
Gospel of St. Luke, or rather the Gospel of the Lord, " right in his view.
But it is by no means
another recension of that Gospel, drawn up' by order nTwas as obstmately
certeln that St. Peter and St. James were
of St. Paul, and the Epistles of the Apostle of the eg^l res^ct.^.
:ppted to the gradual relaxation of
Gentiles. the cere
or transformation of
But even in the first age the disorders were terrible. and the final extinction

St. Paul's Epistles give glimpses of the wUd outbreak of monial Law, as he supposed. no doubt
of controversy, he
antinomianism that everywhere followed his preaching, la the heat and noise thought
said taore than he
— the drunkenness which desecrated the Eucharists, used unguarded language,
te take him au pud de
the backbitings, quarrellings, fornication, lasciviousness, Td Us inverts were not slow
which called forth such indignant denunciation from the ^^
shows conclusively that
not
of Paul's letters
Ttrtone
great apostle. obligation. With
for one moment
would he relax moral
» 1 Cor. T. 1.
of a guileless spirit, he never sus-
* » Ibid.
[ir^uspiciousness
Easeb. Hiit. Eccl. iii. 29.
c 2
 OF JOSEPIIUS. 29
CAUSE OF THE SILENCE
28 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.
tUe result of to teachmg^
Gaspard Scl»vc,>kfold saw
pected that his words, taken and acted upon as a prac- ,.hat he considered
a mo™
tical system, were capable of becoming the charter of
a„d\ thJrew torn it into Anahap-
of the founders ot
antinomianism. Yet it was so. No sooner had he ^Aitual seet, aud .as one Ucenfousness of
laxity and
begun to denounce tlie Law, than he was understood to tUm a eultiin against tlie ' dangerous .s
" Ihis doetrine," said he,
mean the whole Law, not merely its ceremonial part. Ser^rm and even eneon-
ai^TsSons ; it «xes us in impiety,
AVhen he began to expatiate on the freedom of Grace,
he was understood to imply that human effort was over-
"XX^^ S. Fanl exhibit hi.
^^J^
ridden. When he proclaimed Justification by Faitli only,
it was held that he swept away for ever obligation. to

keep the Commandments.

U,i, terrible evil,
crowing
crying out in angmsh "S""''
scandals, insisting that
his eouve ts
drunkenness
"«
^ should
d.mberng
The results were precisely the same in the sixteenth L; olr theb "rioting and

when Luther re-affirmed Paulinism, with all liis

century,
warmth and want of caution. At first he proclaimed
his' doctrines boldly, witliout thought of their practical
application. When he saw the residts, he Avas staggered,
and hasted to provide checks, and qualify his former
words
" Listen to the Papists," he wTitos ;
" the sole argument

they use against us is that no good result has coiue of my

my ""
up to his Corinthian converts
doctrine. And, in fact; scarce did I begin to preach
Gospel before the country burst into frightful revolt; schisms
Md he holds himselfthough professmg liberty, they
example that,
«^ an as I
followers of me. even
ThouW- wi orderly
and sects tore the Church every wliere honesty, morality, and
; : " Be ye
good order fell into ruin ; every one thought to live indepen- ^
also am of Christ."
dently, and conduct himself after his own fancy and caprices
and pleasure, as though the reign of the Go.spel drew with it ^u.ei,e Aufrah. es e.bui>eo
^^^1^^^^^:^::^
the suppression of all law, right and discipline. Licence and
.ogelfrei .eyn -^»''""' aufbobeo.
all kinds of vices and turjjitudes are carried in all conditions
und Getallen, ala waren alle^^i^^lSL
Gf-^^<^'^^^
^.d Ordnung gans
^Uen SULnden,
to an extent they never were before; In those days there allzu wahr ^t De"" der M ..„, ;„

wie es denn l^ider ^^^^ ^^^^^^

was some observance of duty, the people especially were
^t allerlei Laster. S^i^^en ""^ f;^^^^^^^ uSbermaLn in Furcht nnd
decorous ; but now, like a wUd horse without rein and bridle, da die Lente. nnd el zanmloe Pferd lebt und
that
'«'°'»«^1'<=V, , nun w e
without constraint or decency, they rush on the accomplish-
^
ment of their grossest lusts."

' " Lies der Papistea BUcher, hore ihre Predigen, so wirat dn finden,

dass diess ihr eioziger Grund ist, doraaf sie steben wider uns pochen und
xi. i.
1 Cor.
trotzen, da sie Torgeben, es sei nichU Qutes aus unserer Lehre gekommen. .Epistolas, 1528. ii. 192.

Denn alsbald, da unser Evnngeliiim nnging and sie horcn Viess, folgte der
 OF JOSEPHUS. 31
30 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. CAUSE OF THE SILENCE
of
desecrated the assemblies
But apparently all his efforts could only control the spoke of the scandals that
no doubt he ^aw that
it
most exuberant manifestations of antinomiauism, like the Pauline Christians.-theu
the incest at Corinth.
The grave Petrine Christians at Jerusalem were
startled at the tidings that reached them from Asia
Minor and Greece. It was necessary that the breach
should be closed. The Church at Jerusalem was poor
a collection was ordered by St. Paul to be made for its Bu the
abrogated the symbol.
necessities. He undertook to carry the money himself the One symbolized
to Jerusalem, and at the same time, by conforming to
an insignificant legal custom, to recover the regard and
confidence of the apostles.
*:
Zrts .S'Hebrews or the disnit. o^J^^^^^^
finest pas
contams one of the
This purpose emerges at every point in the history of TTnistle to the

Jerusalem. But it was too late.

St. Paul's last visit to

The alienation of parties was too complete to be salved

over with a gift of money and appeased by shaven
crowns.^
When Paul was taken, he made one ineffectual
St.

effort to establish his relation to Judaism,by an appeal so„e comteral or .re-

to the Pharisees. But it failed. He was regarded with r:;L* ioiogoTli-e^d to
undisguised abhorrence by the Jews, with coldness by Hebrew, I douM not, . reflex
is.
'"iha EpUtle to the
the Nazarenes. The Jews would have murdered him. mdi-
of Paul under
the circnmstances
We do not hear that a Nazarene visited him. of the^ad
Further traces of the conflict appear in the Epistles. caUed forth
The authenticity of the Epistle to the Hebrews has been "tL Epistle, there e.n be Uttle question.
doubted, disputed, and on weighty grounds.
rated with Philonism, whole passages of PhUo
It is satu-
re-appear
-rtr:b:-:f^ri^t5^
in the Epistle to the Hebrews, yet I cannot doubt that
it is by St. Paul. When the heat of contest was some-
what when he saw how wofully he had been
abated,
misunderstood by his Jewish and Gentile converts in
the matter of the freedom of the Gospel; when he learned ^thr:;:^srrn::iKp'Lr*ihntedto
how that even the heathen, not very nice about morals,.
1 James ii. 20.

1 Acts zzi. 23, 24.

 32 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.
CAU.SE OF THE SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS. 33
St. Peter/ If npt the
expression of the opinion of the ness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the
Prince of the Apostles
himself, represents ^
the feelings of holy commandment delivered unto them."
Nazarene Christians of the first century. It cautions The extreme Pauline party went on their way;
hose Mho
read the writings of St.
Paul. « which they Marcion, Valentine, Mark, were its successive high-
that are unlearned and
unstable wrest, as they do also priests and prophets. It ran from one extravagance to
the other Scriptures, unto
their own destruction" another, till it sank into the preposterous sect of the
The Nicolaitans. taking advantage
of the liberty ac- Cainites; in their frantic hostility to the Law, canonizing
corded them 111 one direction,
assumed it in another In Cain, Esau. Pharaoh, Saul, all who are denounced in the
he letter to the Church of
Pergamos, in the Apocalypse, Old Testament as having resisted the God of the Law,
they are denounced as "eating
things sacrificed to idols and deifying the Serpent, the Deceiver, as the God of
and committing fornication." ^ They are referred to as' tlie Gospel who had first revealed to Eve the secret of
the foUowers of Balaam, both
in that Epistle and in the liberty, of emancipation from restraint.
Epistles of Jude and the 2nd of
St. Peter. This is be- But disorders always are on the surface, patent to
cause Balaam has the same
significance as Nicolas.^ every one, and cry out for a remedy. Those into wliich
Jude, the brother of James, writes
of tliem- "Certain the advanced Pauline party had fallen were so flagrant,
men are crept in unawares
ungodly men tm-ning so repugnant to the good sense and right feelings of
the grace of our God into
lasciviousness . . . who both Jew and Gentile believers, that they forced on a
defile the flesh, despisedominion, and speak'evil of dicr- reaction. The most impracticable antinomians on one
nities," I.e. of the apostles;
"these speak evU of those side, and obstructive Judaizers on the other, were cut
things which they know not; but
what they know ofl; or cut themselves off", from the Church; and a
naturaUy, as brute beasts, in those
things theycorrupt temper of mutual concession prevailed among the mode-
themselves. But, beloved, remember ye the movement stood John.
words which rate.At the liead of this St.
were spoken before of the apostles of was achieved by the
our I^rd Jesus The work of reconciliation
Christ how that tliey told you there A happy compromise was effected.
; should be mockers Apostle of Love.
in the last time, who should M-alk
after their own un- The Sabbath and the Lord's-day were both observed,
godly These be they wlio separate themselves
lusts.
Nothing was said on one side about dis-
'
side by side.
sensual, having not the Spirit."
tinction in meats, and the sacred obligation of washing
And Peter wrote in wrath and horror:
St.
"It had and on the other, the Gentile Christians adopted the
been better not to have known the way of Psalms of David and much of the ceremonial of the
righteous-
Temple into their liturgy. The question of circumci-
> It is include.]by Ensebius in the Antilegomena. and,
according to
sion was not mooted. It had died out of exhaustion,
St. Jerome, was rejected as a spurious composition
by tie majority of the
Christian world. and the doctrine of Justification was accepted as a harm-
» Eev. ii. 1, 14, 15. less opinion, to be constantly corrected by the moral law
» Dr'pa, datruttion of the people, from yba, and common sense.
to mallow up, and
US, people = NiKuXaof » 2 Pet ii. 21.

c 3
 OF JOSEPHUS. 35
34 CAUSE OF THE SILENCE
JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.

A similar compromise took place at the English

Eeformation. In deference to the dictation of foreign
reformers, the Anglican divines adopted their doctrine of
Justification by Faith only into the Articles, but took
the wise precaution of inserting as an antidote the
Decalogue in the Communion Office, and of ordering it
to be written up, where every one might read, in the
body of the church.
The compromise effected by the influence and
authority of St. John was rejected by extreme partizans
on the right and the left. The extreme Paulines con-
tinued to refuse toleration to the Law and the Old
Testament. The Nazarene community had also its beeu set up "»*"? m
image o! a swine had
,

impracticable zealots who would not endure the reading tie s^teotte Temp
Hadrian ou
plated the statue ot under
of the Pauline Epistles. constituted itseU
without despair, and
The Church, towards the close of the apostolic age,
was made up of a preponderance of Gentile converts
in numbers and social position they stood far above the
Nazarenes.
Under St. John, the Church assumed a distinctively
Gentile character. In its constitution, religious worship, and
thrust back Nazarene J^.'^e of their pros-
in its religious views, it differed widely from the Naza- to approach he rums
ruins
^hen they ^^"tured ^,^^
rene community in Palestine. of their naium and
txate city, the capital ^
^^ ^To
programme of ^^^
With the disappearance from its dis-
at
with
circxmicision, its connection
The Church J^^l^f ^^J^f^ the Naza-
tinction of meats and
Nazarene, alien; its ^-^«P ™^^^^^ TheClemen-
Judaism had disappeared. But Nazarenism was not n.
of Pa.d was sUU
.ene. the memoiy ^^^^^^^ ...g^^^ed
confined to Palestine. In Eome, in Greece, in Asia
tine Recogmtions ^.^^^ J.een him,
Minor, there were large communities, not of converted and ^^^f^J^^
a perso
tell of
aversion, j^xnes their bishop,
Jews only, but of proselytes from Gentiledom, who re-
^hen the beating till nearly
garded themselves as constituting the Church of Christ. down stairs, ana
P^^^^'^^^^^^^tn.t^rs and d g
The existence of this fact is made patent by the Clemen-
and of his throwmg
ot^^^^^^^^^^^
^
dead, the brother
tines and the Apostolic Constitutions. St. Peter's suc-
second century. Paul
apocryphal
cessors in the see of Rome have been a matter of per- ^f^^^'^^l'^ ^he

plexity. It has impressed itself on ecclesiastical students

the same
as
and
sect,
the
"_ i„„ ^ doctrine at
" enemy preacnm^
f^*-^"-
, once
ia spoken of
that Linus and Cletus ruled simultaneously. I have
36 JEAVISH ANTE-GOSPELS. CAUSE OF THE SILENCE OF JOSKPIIUS. 37

foolish and lawless."^ The Nazaiene Christiana, as and Ptecognitions, and his wonder at the sUence of Jose-
Irenajus and Theodoret tell us, regarded him as an apos- phus and Justus will disajipear.
into
tate.2 They would not receive his Epistles or the Those curious books aflord us a precious insight
second
Gospel of St. Luke drawn up under his auspices. the feelings of the Nazareues of the first and.
centuries, showing us wliat was the temper
In the Homilies, St. Peter is made to say of their
:

minds and the colour of their belief. They represent

" Our Lord and Prophet, who hath sent us, declared that the Church. He is
St. James as the supreme head of
the Wicked One, having disputed witli him forty days, and Lord and
addressed by St. Peter, Peter to James, the
"
having prevailed nothing against him, promised that he
Bishop of the Holy Church, under the Father of
all."
would send apostles among his subjects to deceive. Where-
St. Clement caUs him
" the Lord and Bishop of bishops,
fore, above all, remember to shun apostle or teacher or pro-
phet who does not first accurately compare his preaching with
who rules Jerusalem, the Holy Church of the Hebrews,
by
[tliat of] James, Avho was called the Brother of my Lord, and and the Churches everj-where excellently founded
to whom was entrusted the admmLstration of the Church of tlie providence of God."
the Hebrews at Jerusalem. And that, even though he come Throughout the curious collection of Homilies, Chris-
is^one with Judaism. It is a reform
of Mosaism.
to you witli credentials lest the wickedness which prevailed
; tianity
notliing when disputing forty days with our Lord should It bears the relation to Judaism that the Anglican
last three centuries, it is pretended,
bears
afterwards, like lightning falling from heaven upon earth, Church of the
send a preacher to your hijuiy, preaching under pretence of Church in England. Everything essen-
to the Mediajval
truth, like this Simon [Magus], and sowing error." ' tial was retained ; only the traditions of the elders, the
glosses of the lawyers, were rejected.
The reader has but to study the Clementine Homilies
Christianity never mentioned by name.
is
believer A
called, not a Christian, but a
Jew. Clement de-
' Tov Ixfipov iv9pii>irov dvofiov rlva xal fXvapwSti SiiaoKaXidv. — is
" I betook myself to the
Clera. Homil. xx. ed. Dressel, p. 4. The whole passage is BufBciently scribes his own conversion :

putting my faith in the

curious to be quoted. St. Peter writes: "There are some from among !-
holy God and Law of the Jews,
well-assured conclusion that the Law
the Qentiles who have rejected my legal preaching, attaching themselves to has been assigned
certain lawless and trifling preaching of the roan who is my enemy. And *

these things some have attempted while I am still alive, to transform my by the righteous judgment of God."
hating the
words by certain various interpretations, in order to the dissolution of the Apion the philosopher, is spoken of as
Jews is meant
Law ; as though I also myself were of such a mind, but did not freely pro- Jews the context informs us that by
;

claim it, which God forbid Por such a thing were to act in opposition to call Christians.
!

those whom we should

the law of Ood, which was spoken by Moses, and was borne witness to by Like
Moses is the first prophet, Jesus the second.
our Lord in respect of its eternal continuance ; for thus he spoke : The
Essenfes, the Nazareues pro-
heavens and the earth shall pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall in no their spiritual ancestors the
overlaid with inventions of a
wise pass from the law."
tested that the Law was
"ApoBtolum Faulom enm came to efface, that he might
later date ; these Jesus
* recnsantes, apostatam legis dicentes."

Iren. Adv. Hteres. i. 26. Tdv ik inbvrvXov dirocrrdrt/v caXoS<ri.

re-edit the Law in its
ancient integrity. The original
Theod. FaboL Haeret. ii. 1.
» Horn. iv. 22.
> Horn. xi. 85.
 38 JEWISH ANTE-G0SPEL3.
CAUSE OF THE SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS. 39
Law, as given by God and written
by IMoses. was lost: The teaching of the
It was found again apostles seemed powerless at the
after 300 years, lost again,and then
re-wntten from time to lift the faith of their Jewish converts to high
memoiy by
Ezra. Thus it came to pass
that the Old Revelation views of the Lord's nature and mission. Their Judaic
went through various editions,
which altered its meaning, and left prejudice strangled, Avarped their faith. Directly the
it a compound of
presence of the apostles was withdrawn, the restraint on
truths and errors.^ It was the mark of a good and
wise this downward gravitation was removed, and Nazarenism
Jew, instructed by Jesus, to distinguish
between what settled into heresy on the fundamental doctrine of
was true and what was false in the
Scriptures.
Thus the Nazarene thought himself a Christianity. To Gentiles it was in vain to preach Mes-
Hebrew of the sianism. Messianism implied an earnest longing for a
Hebrews, as an Anglican esteems
himself a better promised deliverer. Gentiles had no such longing, had
Catholic than the Catholics. The Nazarenes would never been led to expect a deliverer.
have resented with indignation the
imputation that they The must take other ground. He took that
apostle
were a sect alien from the commonwealth
of Israel, and, of the Incarnation, the Godhead revealing the Truth
like aU communities occupying an uneasy seat
between to mankind by manifestation of itself among men, in
two stools, were doubly, trebly vehement
in their denxm-
human flesh.
ciation of that sect to which they were
thought to bear The apostles to the circumcision naturally appealed
some relation. They repudiated " Christianity," 2 as
high Anglican repudiates Protestantism they
a to the ruling religious passion in the —
Jewish heart the
held aloof ;
passion of hope for the promised Messiah. The Messiah
from a I'auUne believer, as an English Churchman
wiU was come. The teaching of the apostles to the circum-
stand aloof from a Lutheran.
cision necessarily consisted of an explanation of this
And thus it came to pass that the
Jewish historians truth, and efforts to dissipate the false notions which
of the first century said nothing about Christ and the
coloured Jewish Messianic hopes, and interfered with
Church he founded.
their reception of the truth that Jesus was the one who
And yet St. Paul had wrought a work for Christ and
had been spoken of by the prophets, and to whose
the Church which, humanly speaking, none else
could coming their fathers had looked.
have effected.
To the Gentiles, St. Paul preached Christ as the re-
The Nazarene Church was from its infancy prone to
vealer to a dark and ignorant world of the nature of
take a low view of the nature of Clu-ist. The Jewish
God, the purpose for which He had made man, and the
converts were so infected with Messianic notions that
way in which man might serve and please God. The
they could look on Jesus Christ only as the Messiah,
Jews had their revelation, and were satisfied with it.
not as incarnate God. They could see in him a prophet,
The Gentiles walked in darkness they had none their
; ;
" one like unto Moses," but not one equal to
the Father. philosophies were the gropings of earnest souls after
» Clem. Homil. ii, 88—40, 48, iii. 50, 61. light. The craving of the Gentile heart was for a reve-
* Of coarse I mean the designation given to the Pauline sect, not the lation. Paul preached to them the truth manifested to
religion of Christ.
the world through Christ.
 40 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.
CAUSE OF THE SILENCE OF JOSEPHUS. 41
Thus PauUne teaching on tlie Incarnation
counteracted
the downward drag of who had not examined communi-
the doctrines of these
Nazarene ]\Iessiauism, which, when
left to Itself,ended in denying the Godliead of Clirist.
ties would suppose them to be two forms of the same
If for a century the churches faith, two religions sprung from the same loins. Their
founded by St. Pad were
sick with moral disorders, connection was as imperceptible to a Jew, as would be
wherewitli they were inocu-
lated, the vitality of orthodox that between Roman Catholicism and Wesleyanism to-
belief in the Godhead of
Christ proved stronger than moral day.
heresy, cast it out
and left only the scars to teU what Both Nazarene and Jew worshipped in the same
they had gone
through in their infancy. temple, observed the same holy days, practised the same
rites, shrank with loathing from the same food, and
Petrine Christianity upheld the
standard of moraUty,
Pauline Christianity bore that of mingled their anathemas against the same apostate,
orthodoxy.
Paul, who had cast aside at once the law in which he
St. John, in the cool of his
old age, was able to give
the Church its permanent form. had been brought up, and the Hebrew name by which
Tlie Gentile converts
he had been known.
had learned to reverence the purity, the
uprightness, the The silence of Josephus and Justus under these cir-
truthfulness of the Nazarene, and to be
ashamed of their cumstances is explicable. They have described Essen-
excesses; and the Nazarene had seen that his Ues- ism that description covers Nazarenism as it appeared
;
sianism supplied him with nothing to satisfy
the inner to the vulgar eye. If they have omitted to speak of
yearning of his nature. Poth met under the
apostle of Jesus and his death, it is because both wrote at the time
love to clasp hands and learn of one andther,
to confess
their mutual errors, to place in the
when Nazarene and Pharisee were most closely united
treasury of the It was
in sympathy, sorrow and regret for tlie past.
Church, the one his faith, the other his ethics,
to be the not a time to rip up old wounds, and Justus and Jose-
perpetual heritage of Christianity..
phus were both Pharisees.
Some there were who remained fixed in their pre-
still
That neither should speak of Pauline Christianity is
judices, self-excommunicated, monuments to the Church
also not remarkable. It was a Gentile religion, believed
of the perils she had gone through, the
Scylla and Cha- in only by Greeks and Romans it had no open ohsei-v-
;
rybdis through which she had passed with
difficulty, ablc connection with Judaism. It was to them but
guided by her Divine pilot.
another of those many religions wliich rose as mush-
rooms, to fade away again on the soil of the Roman
I have been obliged at some length to show that the
world, with which the Jewish historians had little in-
early Christian Church in Palestine bore so
close a re- terest and no concern.
semblance to the Essene sect, that to the ordinary super-
If this explanation which I have offered is unsatis-
ficial observer was indistinguishable from it. And
it
factory, I know not whither to look for another wliich
also, that so broad was the schism separating
the Naza- can throw light to the strange silence of Philo, Jose-
rene Church consisting of Hebrews, from the Pauline
phus and Justus.
Church consisting of Gentile.s, that no external observer
It is thrown in the teeth of Christians, that history.

I
42 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.

apart from the Gospels,

knows nothing of Christ-
the sJence of contempora^, Uiat •I

and aU b'ut contex^p'o^'

The reasons which I have

given seem to me to ex-
plain this silence plausibly,
and to show that it arose III.
not from Ignorance of the
acts of Christ and the
exist'
ence of the Church, but from THE JEW OF* CELSUS.
a deliberate puipose

Celsus was one of the four first controversial oppo-

nents of Christianity. His book has been lost, with the
exception of such portions as have been preserved by
Origen.
Notliing for certain is known of Celsus. Origen endea-
vours to make him out to be an Epicurean, as prejudice
existed even among the heathen against this school of
philosophy, which denied, or left as open questions, the
existence of a God, Providence, and the Eternity of the
Soul. He says in his first book that he has heard there
had existed two Epicureans of the name of Celsus, one
who lived in the reign of Nero (f A.D. 68), the other
under Hadrian (f A.D. 138), and it is -with this latter
that he has to do. But it is clear from passages of
Celsus quoted by Origen, that this antagonist of Chris-
tianity was no Epicurean, but belonged to that school of
Eclectics which based its teaching on Platonism, but
adopted modifications from other schools. Origen him-
self is obliged to admit in several passages of his
controversial treatise that the views of Celsus are not
Epicurean, but Platonic ; but he pretends that Celsus dis-

guised his Epicureanism under a pretence of Platonism.

Controversialists in the days of Christianity were
first

as prompt to discredit their opponents by ungenerous,

false accusation, as in these later days.
We know neither the place nor the date of the birth
of Celsus. That he lived later than the times of Hadrian
 45
44 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE JEW OV CELSUS.

for
is clear from his mention of the Marciouites, who only not made man His image, as Christians affirm;
in
of a man, nor indeed
arose in A.D. 142, and of the Marcellians, named after God has not either the appearance
fourth Book he remarks, m
the woman Marcella, who, according to the testimony any visible form." In the
doctrine of the Incarnation,
of Irenaeus,^ first came to Eome in the time of Pope opposition to the Christian
Anicetus, after A.D. 157. As Celsus in two'passages re- "I will appeal to that which
has been held as true m
is good, beautiful,
blessed, and pos-
marks that the Christians spread their doctrines secretly, all aaes-that God
perfections. If He came down
because they were forbidden under pain of death to sesses in Himself all
His nature from a
assemble together for worship, it would appear that he among men. He must have altered ;

must have become bad; from

beautiful,
wrote his book Aoyos d\r)6ri<s during the reign of Marcus good God, He
Being
Aurelius (between 161 —
180), who persecuted the Chris- ucrly; from blessed, unhappy; and His perfect
Who can tolerate
tians. We may therefore put the date of the book approx- would have become one of imperfection.
things alter their con-
imately at A.D. 176. such a change ? Only transitory
The author is certainly the Celsus to whom Lucian ditions ; the intransitory
remain ever the same There-
can have been
dedicated his writing, " Alexander the False Prophet." impossible to conceive that God
fore it is
Of the religious opinions of Celsus we are able to form a transformed in such a manner." „
m ,
.
<•

Celsus, Uving the middle of

tolerable conception from the work of Origen. " If the It is remarkable that
able to make inquiries of aged
Christians only honoured One God," says he,^ " then the the second century, and
from the first century,
weapons of their controversy with others would not be Jews whose lives had extended
out next to nothing about
so weak but they show to a man, who appeared not
; should have been able to find
except wliat he read in the
long ago, an exaggerated honour, and are of opinion that Jesus and his disciples,
traditions concerning
they are not offending the Godhead, when they show to Gospels Tlus is proof that no
by the Jews, apart from those
one of His servants the same reverence that they pay Jesus had been preserved
Canonical '^"^l ApocryphaL
to God Himself." Celsus aclcnowledges, with the Plato- contained in the Gospels,
is composed of eight
Books.
nists, One only, eternal, spiritual God, who cannot be Ori^en's answer to Celsus
speaks, who is introduced by
brought into union witli impure matter, the world. All In the first Book a Jew
Mmself in the second Book
Celsus as addressing Jesus
;

that concerns the world, he says, God has left to the who
this Jew addresses
those of his fellow-countrymen
dispensation of inferior spirits, which are the gods of
embraced Christianity ; in the other six BOokS
heathendom. The welfare of mankind is at the disposal have
Origen extracts only short
of these inferior gods, and men therefore do well to Celsus speaks for himself.
to
of Celsus, and then labours
honour them in moderation but the human soul is called
; passa.es from the work
argument of the opponent of
to escape the chains of matter and strain after perfect demolish the force of the
Christianity as best he can.
purity and this can only be done by meditation on the
;
the counter-arguments
One, supreme, almighty God. " God," says he,^ " has The arguments of Celsus and
concern us here. AU we
have to deal
of Origen do not
1 Adv. Hieres. i. 24. ' Origen, Contr. Cela. lib. viii.

' Ibid. lib. Ti.

46 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE JEW OF CELSUS. 47

with are those traditions or slanders detailed to Celsus of people to him, and induced them to foUow him as
by the Jews, which he reproduces. That Celsus was the Messiah ; but he pretends that these miracles were
in communication with Jews when he wrote the two wrought, not by virtue of his divine power, but of his
first Books is obvious, and the only circumstances he magical knowledge. Jesus, says he, had a bad educa-
relates which concern the life of our Lord he derived tion ; later he went into Egypt and passed into service
from his Jewish informants. " The Jew (whom Celsus there, and there learnt some wonderful arts. When he
introduces) addresses Jesus, and findsmuch fault. In came back to his fatherland, on account of these arts,
the he charges him with having falsely pro-
first place, he gave himself out to be a God."^
claimed himself to be the Son of a Virgin afterwards, ;
" Tlie Jew brought forward by Celsus goes on to say, I '

he says that Jesus was born in a poor Jewish village, could relate many things more concerning Jesus, all
and that his mother was a poor woman of the country, whicli are true, but which have quite a different cha-
who supported herself with spinning and needlework racter from what his disciples relate touching hira ; but
that she was cast off by her betrothed, a carpenter and ;
I will not now bring these forward.'are And what
that after she was thus rejected by her husband, she these facts," answers Origen, " which are not in agree-
wandered about in disgrace and misery till she secretly ment with the and which
narratives of the Evangelists,
gave birth to Jesus. Jesus himself was obliged from the Jew refrains from mentioning ? Unquestionably, he
poverty and necessity to go down as servant into Egypt, is using only a rhetorical expression he pretends that ;

where he learnt some of the secret sciences which are he has in his store abundance of munitions of war to
in high honour among the Egyptians and he placed ; discharge against Jesus and his doctrine, but in fact he
such confidence in these sciences, that on his return to knows nothing which can deceive the hearer with the
his native land he gave himself out to be a God." appearance of truth, except those particulars which he ha^
Origen adds " The carpenter, as the Jew of Celsus
: culled from the Gospels tJiemselves."^
declares, who was betrothed to Mary, put the mother This is most important evidence of the utter ignorance

of Jesus from him, because she had broken faith with of the Jews in the second century of all that related to
him, in favour of a soldier named Panthera." the history of our Lord. Justus and Josephus had been
Again :
" Celsus relates from the Gospel of Matthew silent. There was no written narrative to which the
the flight of Christ into Egypt ; but he denies all that Jew might turn for information his traditions were ;

is marvellous and supematuml in it, especially that an silent. The fall of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the
angel should have appeared to Joseph and ordered liim Jews had broken the thread of their recollections.
to escape. Instead of seeking whether the departure of i It is very necessary to bear this in mind, in order to
Jesus from Judaa and his residence in Egypt had not appreciate the utter worthlessness of the stories told of
some meaning, he has made up a fable con-
spiritual our Saviour in the Talmud and the Toledoth Jeschu, An
cerning it. He admits, indeed, that Jesus may have attempt has been made to bolster up these late fables,
wrought the miracles which attracted such a multitude
I
Contra Cell. lib. i.
» Hid. lib. ii.
48 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE JEW OP CELSUS. 49

and show that they are deserving of a certain amount It is perhaps worthy of remark that St. Epiphanius,
of confidence.^ who wrote against heresies at the end of the fourth cen-
But it is clear that the religious movement which our tury, gives the genealogy of Jesus thus }
Lord originated in Palestine attracted much less atten-
Jacob, called Panther =
tion at tlie time than has heeu usually supposed. The
Sanhedrim at first regarded his teaching with the con-
Mary = Joseph Cleophaa
tempt with wliich, in after times, Leo X. heard of the
preaching of Luther. " It is a schoolman's proposition," Jisus.

said the Pope. " A new rabbinical tradition," tlie elders

probably said. Only when their interests
were alarmed, did they interfere to procure the con-
demnation of Christ. And then they thought no more
of their victim and his history than they did later of
the history of James, the Lord's brother. The preaching
and death of Jesus led to no tumultuous outbreak against
the llomau government, and therefore excited little inte-
rest. The position of Christ as the God-man was not
forced on them by the Nazarenes. The Jews noticed
the virtues of these men, but ignored their peculiar
tenets, till traditions were lost and when the majesty
;
of Christ, incarnate God, shone out on the world which
turned to acknowledge him, they found that they had
preserved no records, no recollections of the events in
It shows that in the fourth century the Jewish stories
and feai-s
of Panthera had made such an impression on the Chris-
tians, that his name was forced into the pedigree of Jesus.
Had any of the stories found in the Toledoth Jeschu
existed in the second century,we should certainly have
found them in the book of Celsus.
Origen taimts the Jew with knowing nothing of Christ
/ but what he had found out from the Gospels. He would
not have uttered that taunt had any anti-Christian apo-
cryphal biographies of Christ existed in his day. The
Talmud, indeed, has the tale of Christ having studied
magic in Egypt. Whence this legend, aa well as that of
Panthera, came, we shall see presently.
' Adv. Har. lib. iiL; Hnr. Ixriii. 7.

the history of Jesus. That he was said by Christians

to have been born of a Virgin, driven into Egypt by
King Herod— that he wrought miracles, gathered dis-
ciples, died on the cross and rose again they heard from—
the Ciiristians; they made use of to
and these facts

pervert them into fantastic fables, to colour them with

malignant inventions. The only trace of independent
tradition is in the mention made of Panthera by the
Jew produced by Celsus.

' Amongst others, Clemens : Jesus von Nazareth, SluHgart, 1850; Von
der Alme : Die Urtheile hcidnischer nnd jiidiscber Scliriftsteller, Leipzig,

1864.
 THE TALinm. 51

ture. TJie second, iloed, treats of

festivals. The third
Naschim, deals with the rights of women.
The fourth,'
Nezikim, or Jechnoth, treats of cases of
law. The fifth'
Kodaschim, of holy things. The sLxth, Taharoth, of im-
purity and purifications.
IT.
The Orders of Kodaschim and Taharoth
are incom-
THE TALMUD. plete. The Jerusalem Talmud consists of only the
first
four, and the tract Nidda, which belongs to the Order
The Talmud (i.e. the Teaching) consists of two parts, Taharoth.
the Mischna and the Gemara. Now is deserving of remark,
it
that many of the
The Mischna (i.e. StvrepoKrt?, Second Law, or Eeca- Eabbis whose sayings are recorded in the
Misclma lived
pitulation) is a collection of religious ordinances, in- in the time of our Lord, or
shortly after, and yet that
terpretations of Old Testament passages, especially of not the smallest reference is made
to the teacliing of
Mosaic rules, which have been given by various illus- Jesus, nor even any aUusion to
him personally. Al-
trious Eabbis from the date of the founding of the second though the ]\Iischna was drawn up beside the Sea of
Temple, therefore from about B.C. 400 to the year Galilee, at Tiberias, near where
Jesus lived and wrought
A.D. 200. These interpretations, which were either miracles and taught, neither he nor his
foUowers are
written or orally handed down, were collected in the mentioned once throughout the Mischna.
year A.D. 219 by the Kabbi Jehuda the Holy, at Tibe- There must be a reason why the Mischna, as
well as
rias, on the Sea of Galilee, into a book to which he gave Josephus and Justus of Tiberias, is silent
respecting
the name of Mischna, the Eecapitulation of the Law. Jesus of Nazareth. The reason I have already given*
At that time the Jewish Sanhedrim and the Patriarch The foUowers of Jesus were regarded as belonging
to
resided at Tiberias. After the destruction of Jerusalem the sect of the Essenes. Our Lord's teaching
made" no
in A.D. 70, the Sanhedrim, which consisted of seventy- great impression on the Jews of his time. It
was so
one persons, assembled at Jamnia, the ancient Philistine radically unlike the pedantry and puerilities
of then-
city of Jabne but on the insurrection of the Jews
; Eabbis, that they did not acknowledge him as
a teacher
under Barcochab, A.D. 135, it took up its quarters at of the Law. He had preached Essene disengagement
Tiberias. There the Sanhedrim met under a hereditary from the worid, conquest of passioa Only when
Essene
Patriarch of the family of Gamaliel, who bore the title enthusiasm was thought to threaten the powerful
fami-
till A.D. 420, when the last member of
of Nasi, Chief, lies which held possession of and
abused the pontifical
the house of Gamaliel died, and the Patriarchate and office, had the high-priest and his
party taken alarm,
Sanhedrim departed from Tiberias. and obtained the condemnation and death of
Jesus.'
The Mischna is made up of six Orders (Sedarim), Their alarm died away, the political situation
altered,
which together contain sixty-three Tractates. The first the new Essenianism ceased to be suspected, and
Naza-
Order or Seder is called lesaim, and treats of agricul- rene Christianity took its place among the parties
of
D 2
52 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE T.-^LMUD. 53

Judaism, attracting little notice and exciting no active Among the Babylonish Jews, under the direction of their
hostility. Patriarch, an independent school of commentators on
The Mischna was drawn up at the beginning of the the Mischna had arisen. Their opinions were collected
third century, when was spreading rapidly
Christianity about the year A.D. 500, and compose the Babylonish
through the Roman empire, and had excited the Eoman Gemara. This latter Gemara is Jield by modern Jews
emperors to fierce persecution of those who professed it. in higher esteem than the Jerusalem Gemara.
Yet Jehuda the Holy says not a word about Christ or The Mischna, which is the same to both Gemaras, to-
Christianity. gether with one of the commentaries and glosses, called
He and those whose sayings he quotes had no suspi- Mekilta and Massektoth, form either the Jerusalem or
cion that this religion, which was gaining ground every the Babylonish Talmud.
day among the Gentiles, had sprung from the teaching All the Jewish historians who speak of the compila-
of a Jew. Christianity ruffled not the surface of Jew- tion of the Gemara unanimous
of Babylon, are almost
dom. The harmless Nazarenes were few, and were as on three points : was the first to
that the Rabbi Ashi
strict observers of the Law as the straitest Pharisees. begin the compilation, but that death interrupted him
And if was thus a matter of indifference
Christianity before its completion that he had for his assistant
;

to the Jews, no wonder that every recollection of Jesus another doctor, the Rabbi Avina; and that a certain
of Nazareth, every tradition of his birth, liis teaching, Rabbi Jose finished the work seventy-three years after
his death, had died away, so even at the close of
that, the death of Rabbi Ashi. Rabbi Ashi is believed to
the second century, Origen could charge his Jew oppo- have died A.D. 427, consequently the Babylonish Tal-
nent with knowing nothing of Jesus save what he had mud was completed in A.D. 500.
learned from the Gospels. St. Jerome (d. 420) was certainly acquainted with the
The Mischna became in turn the subject of commen- Mischna, for he mentions it by name.^
-
tary and interpretation by the Rabbis. The explana- St. Ephraem (d. 378) says :

tions of famous Rabbis, who taught on the Mischna,

Gemara Complement), " The Jews have had four sorts of traditions which they
were collected, and called (the
the coUectiou of rabbinical expositions call Repetitions {itvrtpixrtit). The first bear the name of
because with it

of the Law was completed. Moses the Prophet ; they attribute the second to a doctor
named Akiba or Bar Akiba. The thud pass for being those
There are two editions of the Gemara, one made in
of a certain Andan or Annan, whom they call also .Judas and ;

Palestine and called the Jerusalem Gemara, the other

they maintain that the sons of Assamonseus were the authors
made at Babylon. It is from these four sources that all those
of the fourth.
The Jerusalem Gemara was compiled about A.D. 390>
doctrines among them are derived, which, however futile they
under the direction of the Patriarch of Tiberias. But
there was a second Jewish Patriarchate at Babylon, > <'
Qnanto PharisKomni sint, qnas hodie vocant itvTipiiaiit
traditiones
which lasted till A.D. 1038, whereas that of Tiberias et qaam evoUere nequeo Deque enim libri patitar magni-
aniles fabnto, :

was extinguished, as has been already said, in AD. 420. tndo, et pleraque tarn tarpis aant at erabescam dicere."
 54 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE TALMUD. 55

may be, by them are esteemed as the most profound

science, Temple had been destroyed. But the other women, to con-
and of which they speak with ostentation." ^ sole her, said that her son, who had caused the ruin of the
Temple, would speedily rebuild it. Some days after, she
From this it appears that St. Ephraem was acquainted owned to the seller of children's clothes that the Consoler
not only with the Mischna, but with the Gemara, then had been ravished fromher, and that she knew not what had
in process of formation. become of him. Rabbi Bun observes thereupon that there
Both the Jerusalem and the Babylonish Gemara, in was no need to learn from an Arab that the Messiah would
their interpretations of the Mischna, mention Jesus and appear at the moment of the fall of the Temple, as the
the apostles, or, at all events, have been supposed to do prophet Isaiah had predicted this very tlung in the two
so. At the time when both Gemaras were drawn up, ^ verses, x. 34 and xi. 1, on the ruin of the Temple, and the

Christianity was the ruling religion in the Eoman em- cessation of the daily sacrifice, which took place at the siege

and the Eabbis could hardly ignore any longer the

pire, by the Eomans, or by the impious kingdom."
Founder of the new religion. But their statements con-
This is a very curious story, and its appearance in the
cerning Jesus are untrustworthy, because so late. Had
they occurred in the Mischna, they might have deserved Talmud is somewhat difficult to understand.
attention.
We must now pass on to those passages which havd
been supposed to refer to our Lord.
But before we consider the passages containing allu-
sions to Jesus, it will be well to quote a very singular
In the Babylonish Gemara ^ it is related that when
anecdote in the Jerusalem Gemara :'
King Alexander Jannaeus persecuted the Eabbis, the
Rabbi Jehoshua, son of Parachias, fled with his disciple
" It happened that the cow of a Jew who was ploughing Jesus to Alexandria in Egypt, and there both received
the ground began to low. An Arab (or a traveller) who was instruction in Egyptian magic. On their way back to
passing, and who understood the language of beasts, on hear- Judaea, both were hospitably lodged by a woman. Next
ing this lowing said to the labourer, Son of a Jew son of a
'
! day, as Jehoshua and his disciple were continuing their
Jew ! ox and set it free from the plough, for the
loose thine journey, the master praised the hospitality of their
Temple is fallen.' But as the ox lowed a second time, he hostess, whereupon his disciple remarked that she was
said, ' Son of a Jew son of a Jew yoke thy ox, join her to
! !
not only a hospitable but a comely woman.
the plough, for the Messiah is bom.' '
What is his namef Now as it was forbidden to Rabbis to look with admi-
asked the Jew, 'Dnm3, the Consoler,' replied the Arab.
ration on female beauty, the Rabbi Jehoshua was so
'And what the name of his father T asked the Jew.
angiy with his disciple, that he pronounced on him ex-
is

• Hezekiah,' answered the Arab. '

And whence comes he V
communication and a curse. Jesus after this separated
' From Then the Jew
the royal palace of Bethlehem Juda.'
from his master, and gave himseK up wholly to the
sold his ox and his plough, and becoming a seller of children's
study of magic.
clothes went to Bethlehem, where he found the mother of the
The name Jesus is Jehoshua Graecised. Both mas-
Consoler afflicted, because that, on the day he was bom, the

' Haeres. ziii. *

> Tract. Sanhedrim, foL 107, &nd Sola, fol. 47.
Beracotb, xi. a.
 THB TALMUD. 57
66 JEWISH AITTB-GOSPELS.
than that of
ter and pupil in this legend bore the same name, but Jeschu is something like a century earUer
that of the pupil is in the Talmud abbreviated into the Jesus of the Gospels.
tradition
Jeschu. Moreover, it cannot be said that Jewish
identity. On the contrary, learned Jewish
introduced in the Gremara to iUiistrate asserts their
This story is
the Jeschu of the
writers have emphatically denied that
the obligation incumbent on a Eabbi to keep custody
over his eyes. It bears no signs of having been forced Talmud is the Jesus of the Gospels. ^
Jechiels with
in so as to give expression to antipathy against Jeschu.
In the "Disputation" of the Rabbi
" Tliis (which
Jeschu our blessed Lord by no means Nicolas, a convert, occurs this statement :

That this is is
is related of Jesus and the
Eabbi Joshua, son of Pera-
evident. On the contrary, the balance of probability is
him whom Christians
Ben Perachia was an chia) contains no reference to
that the pupil of Jehoshua en-
;" and then he points out that the un-
honour as a God
tirely different person.
enough to prove
possibiUty of reconciling the dates is
This Jehoshua, son of Perachia, is a known historical Perachia was a person
that the disciple of Joshua Ben
personage. He was one of the Sanhedrim in the reign
of Christiamty.
alto'^ether distinct from the Founder
of Alexander Jannaeus. He began to teach as Eabbi in the same denial, and
The Eabbi Lippmann^ gives
the year of the world 3606, or B.C. 154. Alexander was a contemporary of
shows that Jesus of the Gospels
Jannseus, son of HjTcanus, was king of the Jews in anecdote Uved from
Hillel, whereas the Jeschu of
the
B.C. 106. The Pharisees could not endure that the
two to three generations earlier.
royal and high-priestly functions should be united in into the question
The Eabbi Salman Zevi entered
the same person; they therefore broke out in revolt. produced ten reasons
with great care in a pamphlet, and
The civil war caused the death of some 50,000, accord- the Tabnud was not
for concluding that the Jeschu
of
ing to Josephus. When Alexander had suppressed the Evangelists.^
to the fortress of Bethome, the Jesus, son of Mary, of the
revolt, he led 800 prisoners was that the Jew of Celsua
We can see now how it
and crucified them before the eyes of his concubines at of having learned
brouaht against our Lord the charge
a grand banquet he gave. the Ptabbinic schools
magic in Egypt He had heard in
The Pharisees, and those of the Sanhedrim who had Jehoshua, son of Pera-
the anecdote of Jeschu, pupil of
not fallen into his hands, sought safety in flight It was fail to be nar-
chia—an anecdote which could scarcely
then probably that Jehoshua, son of Perachia, went down concluded that this Jeschu
rated to aU pupils. He at once
into Egypt and was accompanied by Jeschu. Christians, without troublmg
him-
was the Jesus of the
Jehoshua was buried at Chittin, but the exact date
self Mdth the chronology. . _

of his death is not known.^ foL 104, it is forbidden

In the Mischna, Tract Sabbath,
Alexander Jannseus died B.C. 79, after a reign of Gemara
to upon the skin. The Babylonish
make marks
twenty -seven years, whilst besieging the castle of
Kagaba on the further side of Jordan. > Sepher Nmachon, n. 337. .
Kon.gsberg.
Eisenmenger: Neuentdecktes
Jndenthnm. L pp. 231-7.
It will be seen at once that the date of the Talmudic
«

1711.
^ Bartolooci Bibliotheca Maxinut Sabbioica, sab. nom.
:
D 3
58 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE TALMUD. 59

observes on this passage " Did not the son of Stada

:
endeavoured to seduce says to him, Eepeat, I pray you, '

mark the magical arts on his skin, and bring them with what you told me before in private.' Then, should he
him out of Egypt ?" This son of Stada is Jeschu, as do so, the other will say further, ' But how shall we leave
will presently appear. our God in heaven and serve idols ?' Now should the
In the Mischna of Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 43, it is ordered accused be converted and repent at this saying, it is

that he who shall be condemned to death by stoning well ; he goes on to say, That is our affair, and so
but if

shall be led to the place of execution with a herald
going before him, who shall proclaim the name of the
offender,and shall summon those who have anything to
say in mitigation of the sentence to speak before the
sentence is put in execution.
On this the Babylonish Gemara remarks, " There exists
a tradition: On the rest-day before the Sabbath they
and so ought we to do, then the spies must lead him off
to the house of judgment and stoue him. This is what
was done to the son of Stada at Lud, and tliey hui^
him up on the eve of the Passover."^ And the Tract.
Sanhedrim says, " It is related that on the eve of the
Sabbath they crucified Jeschu, a herald going before
him," as has been already quoted and then follows the
;

crucified Jeschu. For forty days did the herald go before comment " Ula said, Will you not judge him to have
:

him and proclaim aloud. He is to be stoned to death been the son of destruction, because he is a seducer of
because he has practised and has led the Israelites
evil, the people ? For the Merciful says (Deut. Thou xiii. 8),

astray, and provoked them to schism. Let any one who
can bring evidence of his innocence come forward and
speak !But as nothing was produced which coidd esta-
blish his innocence, he was crucified on the rest-day of
the Passah {i.e. the day before the Passover)."
The Mischna of Tract. Sanhedrim, foL 67, treats of the
—
command in Deut. xiii. 6 11, that any Hebrew who
should introduce the worship of other gods should be
stoned with stones. On this the Gemara of Babylon
relates that, in the city of Lydda, Jeschu was heard
shalt not spare him, neither shalt thou conceal him. But
I, Jesus, am heir to the kingdom. Therefore (the herald)
went forth proclaiming that he was to be stoned because
he had done an evil thing, and had seduced the people,
and led them into schism. And (Jeschu) went fortli to
be stoned witli stones because he had done an evil thing,
and had seduced the people and led them into schism."
The Babylonish Gemara to the Mischna of Tract.
Sabbath gives the following perplexing account of the
parents of Jeschu :* " They stoned the son of Stada in

through a partition endeavouring to persuade a Jew to Lud (Lydda), and crucified him on the eve of the Pass-
over. This Stada's son was Pandira's son. Babbi Chasda
worship idols; whereupon he was brought forth and
crucified on the eve of the Passover. " None of those said Stada's husband was Pandira's master, namely
Paphos, son of Jehuda. But how was Stada his mother ?
wlio are condemned to death by the Law are spied upon
except only those (seducers of the people). How are
His (i.e. Pandira's) mother was a woman's hair-dresser.
they dealt with ? They light a candle in an' inner As they say in Pombeditha (the Babylonish school by
the Euphrates), this one went astray (S'tath-da) from
chamber, and place spies in an outer room, who may
her husband."
watch and Usteu to him (the accused). But he does not
» Tract Sabbath, foL 67. * Ibid. 104.
see them. Then he whom the accused had formerly
fol.
60 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE TALiMUD. 61

The Gloss or Paraphrase oa this is " Stada's son : to be the mother of Pandira, the father of Jeschu. The
was not the son of Paphos, son of Jehuda; No. As Jew of Celsus says that the mother of Jesus
was a poor
Kabbi Chasda observed, Paphos had a servant named needlewoman, who also span for her livelihood. He pro-
Pandira. Well, what has that to do with it ? Tell us bably recalled what was said of Miriam, the mother of
how it came to pass that this son was bom to Stada. Panthera and grandmother of Jeschu, and applied it
Well,it was on this wise. Miriam, the mother of Pan- to St. Mary the Virgin, misled by the obscurity of the
used to dress Stada's hair, and .... Stada became
dira, saying of Chasda, which was orally repeated in the Rab-
a mother by Pandira, son of Miriam. As they say in binic schools.
Pombeditha, Stada by name and Stada by nature."^ The Jerusalem Gemara to Tract. Sabbath says :
" The
The obscurity of the passage arises from various causes. son of Rabbi Jose swallowed poison, or something
sister's

R. Chasda is a punster, and plays on the double meaning deadly. There came to him a man and conjured him in
of "Baal" for "husband" and "master." There is also the name of Jeschu, son of Pandeira, and he was healed
ambiguity in the pronoun " his;" it is difficult to say to or made easy. But when he went forth it was said to
whom it always refers. The Paraphrase is late, and is him, How hast thou healed him? He answered, by
a conjectural explanation of an obscure passage. using such and such words. Then he (R. Jose) said to
It is clear that the Jeschu of the Talmud was the him, It had been better for liim to have died than to
sou of one Stada and Pandira. But the name Pandira have heard this name. And so it was with him (i.e. the
having the appearance of being a woman's name,^ this boy died)."
led to additional confusion, for some said that Pandira In another place :^ " Eleasar, the son of Damah, was
was his mother's name. bitten by a serpent. There came to him James, a man
The late Gloss does not associate Stada with the of the town of Sechania, to cure him in the name of
blessed Virgin, It gives the name of Miriam or Mary Jeschu, son of Pandeira but the Rabbi Ismael would
;

not suffer it, but said. It is not permitted to thee, son

'The passage is not easy to understand. I give three Latin translations of Damah.But he (James) said, Suffer me, and I will
of it, one bj CL Schickardas, the second quoted from Scheidias (Loca bring an argument against thee which is lawful But
Talm. L 2). " Filios Satdae, filins Pandeiis fuit. Dixit Raf Chasda Ama- :

he would not suffer him."

sioB Pandeirss, maritus Paphos filius Jehudse fait. At quomodo mater ejus
Satda? Mater ejus Mirjam, comptrix muliernm fuit." "Filius Stado The Gemara to Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 43, mentions five
filins Pandine
est. Dixit Rabbi Chasda Maritus seu procus matris ejus
: disciples of Jeschu Ben-Stada, namely, Matthai, Nakai,
fuit Stada, iniens Pandiram. Maritus Faphus 61ius Jndte ipse est, mater ejus Netzer, Boni and Thoda. It says :

Stada, mater ejus Maria," Sec. Lightfoot, Matt. xzriL 56, thus translates
it :
" Lapid&runt filinin Satdse in Lydda, et suspendenint eum in vesper^ " Jeschu had five disciples, Matthai, Nakai, Nezer and Boni,
Paschatia. Hie autem filius SatdsD fuit filius Pandiro. Dixit quidem Rabb
and also Thoda. They brought Matthai (to the tribunal) to
Chasda, Maritus (matris ejus) fuit Satda, maritus Pandits, maritus Papus
filins Judas aed tamen dico matrem ejus fnisse Satdam, Mariam ridelicet,
:
pronounce sentence of death against him. He said. Shall Mat-
plicatrioem capillonun moliemm : sicut dicunt in Panbeditha, Deolinarit thai suffer when it is written (Ps. iliL 3), tno When shall
ista a marito suo."
1 AToda SaTs, fol 27.
* m^l3S. As • man'a name it occurs in 2 Taigom, Esther rii.

>
62 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE TALMUD. 63

I come to appear before the presence of God t They replied, accordance with the Law, for having practised magic, is
Shall not Matthai die when it is written, >rio When shall also probable. The passages quoted are imaniraous in
he die and his name perish? They produced NakaL He stating that he was stoned for this offence. The Law
said, Shall Nakai ">Mp3 die] Is it not written, The innocent
decreed this as the death sorcerers were to undergo.
slay thou noti (Exod. xxiii. 7). They answered him.
^P31 In the Talmud, Jeschu is first stoned and then crucified.
Shall not Nakai die when it is written. In the secret places
The object of this double punishment being attributed
does he murder the innocent t (Ps. x. 8). When they brought
tohim is obvious. The Eabbis of the Gemara period had
forth Netzer, he said unto them, Shall Netzer ^2^ be slain 1
Is it not written (Isa. xi. 1), A branch nsai shall grow out
— —
begun like the Jew of Celsus to confuse Jesus son of
replied. Shall not Netzer die because
Mary with Jeschu the sorcerer. Their tradition told of
of his toots 1 They it

Thou art cast out of thy grave like

a Jeschu who was stoned Christian tradition, of a Jesus
;
is written (Isa. xiv. 19),
an abominable branch] They brought forth Boni ^313. He
who was crucified. They combined the punishments
said. Shall Bonidie the death when it is written (Ex. iv. 22),
and fused the persons into one. But this was done very
"»33 My son, my firstborn, is Israel] They replied. Shall not
clumsily. It is possible that more than one Jehoshua
Boni die the death when it is written (Ex. v. 23), So I will has contributed to form the story of Jeschu in the Tal-
slay thy son, thy firstborn son 1 They led out Thoda mm. mud. For his mother Stada is said to have been married
He said. Shall Thoda die when it is written (Ps. c. 1), A to Paphos, son of Jehuda. Now Paphos Ben-Jehuda is

psalm minV of thanksgiving 1 They replied. Shall not Thoda a Rabbi whose name recurs several times in the Talmud
die when it is written (Pa L 23), He that sacrificeth praise, as an associate of the illustrious Eabbi Akiba, who lived
be honoureth mcl" after the destruction of Jerusalem, and had his school
at Bene-Barah. To him the first composition of the
Tills is all that the Gemara tells us about Jeschu, Mischna arrangements is ascribed. As a follower of the
son of Stada or Pandira. It behoves us now to consider pseudo-Messiah Barcochab, in the war of Trajan and
vphether he can have been the same person as our Lord. Hadrian, he sealed a life of enthusiasm with a martyr's
That there really lived such a person as Jeschu Ben- death, A.D. 135, at the captiu-e of Bether. When the
Pandira, and that he was a disciple of the Eabbi Jehos- Jews were dispersed and forbidden to assemble, Akiba
hua Ben-Perachia, I see no reason to doubt. collected the Jews and continued instructing them in
That he escaped from Alexander Jannaeus with his n tlie Law. Paphus remonstrated with him on the risk.
master into Egypt, and there studied magical arts that ; Akiba answered by a parable. " A fox once went to
he returned after awhile to Judsea, and practised his the river side, and saw the fish flying in all directions.
necromantic arts in his own country, is also not impro- Wliat do you fear ? asked the fox. The nets spread by
bable. Somewhat later the Jews were famous, or in- the sons of men, answered the fish. Ah, my friends,

famous, throughout the Eoman world as conjurors and said the fox, come on shore by me, and so you will

exorcists. Eo^t was the head-quarters of magical escape the nets that drag the water." A
few days after,
studies. Akiba was in prison, and Paphus also. Paphus said,
" Blessed art thou, Eabbi Akiba, because thou art im-
That Jeschu, son of Pandira, was stoned to death, in
64 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE TALMUD. 65

prisoned for the words of the Law, and woe is me who oppose the opinion of thy companions ? He answered,
am imprisoned for matters of no importance." ^
I will prove what I have said. Then he went to the
We naturally wonder how it is that Stada, the mother boy's mother, who was market selling
sitting in the
of Jeschu, who was born about B.C. 120, should be re- fruit, and said to her. My you
daughter,will tell me
if

presented as the wife of Paphus, son of Jehuda, who the truth I wUl promise you eternal life. She said to
died about A.D. 150, two centuries and a half later. him, Swear to me. And he swore with his lips, but in
It is quite possible that this Paphus lost his wife, his heart he did not ratify the oath." Then he learned
who eloped from him with one Pandira, and became what he desired to know, and came back to his com-
mother of a son named Jehoshua. The name of Jehoshua panions and told them all.^
or Jesus is common enough. We have here corroborative evidence that this Stada
In Gittin, Paphus is again mentioned. " There is who and her son Jeschu lived at the time of Akiba and
finds a fly in his cup, and he takes it out, and will not Paphus, that is, after the fall of Jerusalem, in the earlier
drink of it. And what did Paphus Ben-Jehuda,
this is part of the second century.
who kept the door shut upon his wife, and nevertheless 1 think that probably the story grew up thus
she ran away from him." ^ A certain Jehoshua, in the reign of Alexander Jan-
Mary, tlie plaiter of woman's hair, occurs in Chajigah. nseus, went down into Egypt, and there learnt magic.
" Eabbi Bibai, when the angel of death at one time stood He returned to Judaea, where he practised it, but was
before him, said to his messenger, Go, and bring hither arrested at Lydda and executed by order of the Sanhe-
Mary, the women's hair-dresser. And the young man drim, by being stoned to death.
went," &c.' But who was this Jehoshua? Tradition was silent.
According to the Toledoth Jeschu, as we shall see However, there was a floating recollection of a Jehoshua
presently, Mary's instructoris the Rabbi Simon Ben born of one Stada, wife of Paphus, son of Jehuda, the
Schetach. She is visited and questioned by the Rabbi companion of Akiba. The two Jehoshuas were con-
Akiba. This visitation by Akiba is given in the Tal- founded together. Thus stood the story when Origen
mudic tract, Calla,* and thence the author of the Tole- wrote against CeLsus in A.D. 176.
doth Jeschu drew it By A.D. 500 it had grown considerably. The Jew of
" As once the Elders sat at the gate, there passed two Celsus had already fused Jesus of Nazareth with the
boys before them. One uncovered his head, the other other two Jehoshuas. This led to the Rabbis of the
did not. Then said the Rabbi Elieser, The latter is cer- Gemara relating that Jehoshua was both stoned and
tainly a Mamger but the Puibbi Jehoshua ^ said, He is
; crucified.

a Ben-hannidda. Akiba said. He is both a Mamser and I do not say that this certainly is the origin of the

a Ben-hannidda. They said to him, How canst thou story as it appears in the Talmud, but it bears on the
* Gittin, fol. 90, a.
> Talmud, Tract. Beracoth, ut. fol. 61, 6. '
In the apocryphal Gospel o! Thomas, Jesos as a boy behaves without
stoiy was de-
» Chajigah, fol. 4, 6. * Calla, fol. 18, b.
respect to hia master and the elders ; thence possibly this
* Son of Leri, according to the Toledoth Jeacha of Holdrich. rived.
66 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS.

face of it strong likelihood that it is. Jehoshua who

went Eg3^t could not have been stoned to death
into
after the destruction ofJerusalem and the revolt of Bar-
cochab, for then the Jews had not the power of life and
death in their hands. The execution must have taken V.
place long before yet the Eabbis whose names appear in
;

connection with the story —always excepting Jehoshua THE COUNTER-GOSPELS.

son of Perachia — all belong to the second century after
In the thirteenth century it became known among
Christ
the Christians that the Jews were in possession of an
The solution I propose is simple, and it explains what
anti-evangeL It was kept secret, lest the sight of it
otherwise would be inexplicable.
should excite tumults, spoliation and massacre.
But of
If it be a true solution, it proves that the Jews in
the fact of its existence Cluistians were
made aware by
A.D. 500, when the Babylonian Gemara was completed,
the account of converts.
had no traditions whatever concerning Jesus of Naza- each
There are, in reality, two such anti-evangels,
reth.
called Toldoth Jeschu, not recensions of
an earlier text,
AVe shall see next how the confusion that originated circulating
stories
in the Talmud grew into the monstrous romance of the
but independent collections of the
among the Jews relative to the life of our Lord.
Toledoth Jeschu, the Jewish counter-Gospel of the Joshua or
The name of Jesus, wliich in Hebrew is
Middle Ages. in both contracted
Jehoshua (the Lord wiU sanctify) is

into Jeschu by the rejection of

an Ain; ItO^ for V^W\
the word
The Rabbi Elias, in his Tischbi, under
Jeschu, says, Because the Jews
" wUl not acknowledge
do not call him Jeschua, but
him to be the Saviour, they
reject the Ain and call him Jeschu." And the Eabbi
Abraham Perizol, in hisbook Maggers Abraham, c. 59,
says,
" His name was Jeschua but as Rabbi Moses, the
;

son of Majemoun of blessed memory, has written it, and

Talmud, written Jeschu.
it is
as we find it throughout the
carefully left out the Ain, because he was not
They have
able to save himself."
"It is not
The Talmud in the Tract. Sanhedrim^ says,
false God." On this
lawful to name the name of a
mission of our Saviour,
account the Jews, rejecting the
» FoL 114.
68 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE COUNTER-GOSPELS. 69

refuged to pronounce his name without mutilating it.

A fair specimen of reckless judgment on a matter of
By omitting the Ain, the Cabbalista were able to give a importance, without having taken the trouble to ex-

significance, to the name. In its curtailed form it is

amine the grounds on which it was made Luther knew !

composed of the letters Jod, Schin, Vau, wliich are more of it than did Voltaire, and put it in a very dif-
taken to stand for lailDTI ycXD no^ jimmach schemo ferent place :

vezichrono, " His name and remembrance shall be ex- " The proud evil spirit carries on all sorts of mockery in
tinguished." This is the reason given by the Toledoth he mocks God, the Creator of heaven and
this book. First
Jeschu. earth, and His Son Jesus Clirist, as you may see for yourself,
Whowere the authors of the books called Toledoth if you belieye as a Christian that Christ is the Son of God.
Jeschu, the two counter-Gospels, is not known. Next he mocks us, all Christendom, in that we beUeve in
Justin Martyr, who died A.D. 63, speaks of the blas- such a Son of God. Thirdly, he mocks his own fellow Jews,
phemous writings of the Jews about Jesus ^ but that ; tellingthem such disgraceful, foolish, senseless affairs, as of
they contained traditions of the life of the Saviour can brazen dogs and cabbage-stalks and such like, enough to make
hardly be believed in presence of the silence of Josephus all dogs bark themselves to death, if they could understand it,

at such a pack of idiotic, blustering, raging, nonsensical fools.

and Justus, and the ignorance of the Jew of Celsus.
Is not that a masterpiece of mockery which can thus mock
Origen says in his answer, that " though innumerable
all three at once % The fourth mockery is this, that whoever
lies and calumnies had been forged against the vener-
wrote it has made a fool of himself, as we, thank God, may
able Jesus, none had dared to charge him with any
see any day."
intemperance whatever." ^ He speaks confidently, with
full assurance. If he had ever met with such a calumny, Luther knew the book, and translated it, or rather
he would not have denied its existence, he would have condensed it, in his " Schem Hamphoras."
^

set himself to work to refute it. Had such calumnious There are two versions of the Toledoth Jeschu, dif-
writings existed, Origen would have been sure to know fering widely from one another. The first was published
of them. We may therefore be quite satisfied that none by Wagenseil, of Altdorf, in 1681. The second by
such existed in his time, the middle of the third Huldrich at Leyden in 1705. Neither can boast of
century. an antiquity greater than, at the outside, the tweKth
The Toledoth Jeschu comes before us with a flourish century. It is difBcult to say with certainty which is
of trumpets from Voltaire. " Le Toledos Jeschu," says the earlier of the two. Probably both came into use
he, " est le plus ancien ^crit Juif, qui nous ait ^t^ trans- about the same time ; the second certainly in Germany,
nus contre notre religion. C'est ime vie de Jesus Christ, for it speaks of Worms in the German empire.
toute contraire k nos Saints Evangiles elle parait etre : According to the first, Jeschu (Jesus) was bom in the
du premier siecle, et meme ^crite avant les evangiles." ' year of the world 4671 (B.C. 910), in the reign of Alex-
' Jastin Ktart Dialog, cnm Trypfa. e. 17 and 108.
1 Lnther'B Works, Wittemberg, 1666, T. V. pp. 509—535. The passage
* CodL Cela. lib. iiu
qaoted is on p. 613.
* Lettres nii les Juib. (EoTres, I. 69, p. 30.
70 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE COtJNTER-GOSPELS. 71

ander JannjEus (B.C. 106 79) —

He was the son of
! We have thus, in the two lives of Jeschu, the follow-
Joseph Pandira and Mary, a widow's daughter, the ing personages introduced as contemporaries
sister of Jehoshua, who was affianced to Jochanan, dis-
ciple of Simeon Ben Schetah ; and Jeschu became the I. II.

Mary of the tribe of Jeschn born (date given), B.C. 910. Herod the Great^ B.C. 70—4.
pupil of the Rabbi Elchanan. is

Juda.
Alexander Jannteua, B.C. 106 — 79. R. Jehoshua Ben Perachia, c. B.C. 90.
R. Simeon Ben Schetach, B.C. 70. R. Akiba, A.D. 135.
According to the second, Jeschu was born in the reign R. Papas Ben Jehnda, e. A.D. 140.
of Herod the Proselyte, and was the son of Mary, R. Jehoshua Ben Levi, c. A.D. 220.

daughter of Calpus, and sister of Simeon, son of Calpus,

by Joseph Pandira, who carried her off from her husband, The second Toledoth Jeschu closes with, " These are
Papus, son of Jehuda. Jeschu was brought up by tlie words of Jochanan Ben Zaccai ;" but it is not clear

Joshua, son of Perachia, in the days of the illustrious whether it is intended that the book should be included
Eabbi Akiba Maiy is of the tribe of Benjamin.
! in " The words of Jochanan," or whether the reference
The anachronisms of both accounts are so gross as to is only to a brief sentence preceding this statement,
prove that they were drawn up at a very late date, and " Thereforehave they no part or lot in Israel. The Lord
by Jews singularly ignorant of the chronology of their bless his people Israel with peace." Jochanan Ben
history. Zaccai was a priest and ruler of Israel for forty years,
In the first, Mary is affianced to Jochanan, disciple of from AD. 30 or 33 to A.D. 70 or 73. He died at Jamnia,
Simeon Ben Schetah. Now Schimon or Simeon, son of near Jerusalem (Jabne of the Philistines), and was
Scheta, is a well-known character. He is said to bave buried at Tiberias.
strangled eighty witches in one day, and to have been Nor are these anachronisms the only proofs of the

the companion of Jehudu Ben TalaaL He flourished ignorance of the composers of the two anti-evangels.
B.C. 70. In the first, on the death of King Alexander Jannaeus,
In the second life we hear of Mary being the sister the government falls into the hands Of his wife Helena,
of Simeon Ben Kalpus (Chelptu). He also is a well- who is represented as being "also called Oleina, and
known Rabbi, of whom many miracles are related. He was the mother of King Mumbasius, afterwards called
lived in the time of the Emperor Antoninus, before Hyrcanus, who was killed by liis servant Herod."
whom he stood as a disciple, when an old man (circ. The wife of Alexander Jannteus was Alexandra, not
A.D. 160). Helena she reigned from B.C. 79 to B.C. 71. She was
;

In this also the Rabbi Akiba is introduced. Akiba the mother of Hyrcanus and Aristobulus; but was quite
Also the Rabbi Jehoshua Ben LevL distinct from Oleina, mother of Mumbasius, and Mum-
died AD. 135.
basius was a very different person from Hyrcanus.
Now this Rabbi's date can also be fixed with tolerable
accuracy. He was the teacher of the Rabbi Jochanan,
Oleina was a queen of Adiabene in Assyria.

who compiled the Jerusalem Talmud. His date is The first life refers to the Talmud: "This is the same
AD. 220.
72 JEWISH ANTE-GOSPELS. THE COUNTER-GOSPELS. 73

Mary who dressed and curled women's hair, mentioned treated by the Church as a festival till very late.

several times in the Talmud." Litanies and penitential offices were appointed for it.

Both give absiird anecdotes to account for monks The notice in the Toledoth Jeschu, therefore, points

wearing shaven crowos ; both reasons are different. to a time when the feast was observed with outward
In the the Christian festivals of the Ascen-
first Life, demonstration of joy, and the sanction of the Church
sion "forty days after Jeschu was stoned," that of Christ- accorded to other festivities.

mas, and the Circumcision "eight days after," are spoken The Toledoth Jeschu adopts the fable of the Sanhe-
of as institutions of the Christian Church. drim and King having sent out an account of the trial
In the Vlllth Book of the Apostolical Constitutions, of Jesus to the synagogues throughout the world to

the festivals of the Nativity and the Ascension are obtain from them an expression of opinion. The syna-

spoken of,^ consequently they must have been kept holy gogue of Worms remonstrated against the execution of
" The people of Girmajesa (Germany) and
from a very early age. But it was not so with Ihe Christ. all

feast of the Circumcision.

the neighbouring country round Girmajesa which is now
The 1st of January was a great day among the called "Wormajesa (Worms), and which lies in the realm
of the Emperor, and the little couucU in the town of
heathen. In the Homilies of the Fathers down to the
Wormajesa, answered the King (Herod) and said. Let
eighth century, the 1st of January is called the "Feast of
Jesus go, and slay him not Let him live till he faUs
Satan and Hell," and the faithful are cautioned against
!

and perishes of liis own accord."

observing it. All participation in the festivities of that
The synagogues of several cities in the Middle Ages
day was forbidden by the Council "in TruUo," in A.D.
did, in fact, produce apocryphal letters which they pre-
692, and again in the Council of Eome, A.D.
744.
Gelasius (A.D. 496) forbade all observance of tended had been written by their forefathers remon-
Pope
strating with the Jewish Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, and
the day, according to Baronius,* in the hope of
rooting
pagan ceremonies which requesting that Jesus might be spared. An epistle was
out every remembrance of the
produced by the Jews of Ulm in A.D. 1348, another by
were connected with it. In ancient Sacramentaries is a
Never- the Jews of Eatisbon about the same date, from the
mass on this day, " de prohibendo ab idolis."
the Circumcision of council at Jerusalem to their synagogues.^ The Jews
theless, traces of the celebration of
Zeno, Bishop of of Toledo pretended to possess similar letters in the
Christ occur in the fourth centtvry; for
reign of Alfonso the Valiant, A.D. 1072. These letters
Verona A.D. 380), preached a sermon on it. In the
(d.
Martyrology wrongly probably served to protect them from feeling the full
ancient Mozarabic Kalendar, in the
and in the Gelasian Sacramen- stress of persecution which oppressed the Jews else-
attributed to St. Jerome,
on January 1. But where.
tary, the Circumcision is indicated
for the The most astonishing ignorance of Gospel accounts of
though noted in the Kalendars, the day was,
heathen festival, not Christ and the apostles is observable in both anti-
reason of its being observed as a
ad. 1 Jannar.
evangels. Matthias and Matthew are the same, so are
1
Lib. ,iii. 33.
» Martyrol. Bom.
• Fabricios, Codex Apociyph. N.T. ii. p. 493.

B
74 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE COUNTER-GOSPELS. 75

John the Baptist and John the Apostle, whilst Thad- influence on the young wlio ventured, with the daring
daeus is said to be " also called Paul," and Simon Peter curiosity of youth, to explore those peaceful pages.
is confounded with Simon Magus.* "What answer had the Piabbis to make to those of their
These are instances of the confusion of times and per- own religion who were questioning and wavering ? They
sons into which these counter-Gospels have fallen, and had no counter-record to oppose to the Gospels, no tra-
they are sufficient to establish their late and worthless dition wherewith to contest the histoiy written by the
character. Evangelists. The notices in the Talmud were scanty,

The two anti-Gospels are clearly not two editions of incomplete. It was open to dispute whether these
an earlier text. The only common foundation on wliich
, notices really related to Christ Jesus.
both were constructed was the mention of Jeschu, son Under such circumstances, a book which professed to
of Panthera,.in the Talmud. Add to this such distorted give a true account of Jesus was certain to be hailed and
versions of Gospel stories as circulated among the Jews accepted without too close a scrutiny as to its authen-
in the Middle Ages, and we have the constituents of ticity; much as in the twelfth century Joseph Ben
both counter-Gospels.- Both exhibit a profound igno- G Orion's "Jewish War" was assumed to be authentic.

rance of the sacred text, but a certain acquaintance with The Toledoth Jeschu or " Birth of Jesus " boldly iden-
prominent incidents iu the narrative of the Evangelists, tified the Jesus of the Gospels with the Jeschu of the

not derived directly from the Gospels, but, as I beUeve, Talmud, and attempted to harmonize the Kabbinic and
from miracle-plays and pictorial and sculptured repre- the Christian stories.
sentations such as would meet the eye of a mediajval There a certain likeness between the two coimter-
is

Jew at every turn. Gospels, but this arises solely from each author being
"We have not to cast about far for a reason which shall actuated by the same motives as the other, and from
account for the production of these anti-evangels. both deriving from common sources, —the Talmud and
The persecution to which the Jews were subjected in Jewish misrepresentations of Gospel events.
the Middle Ages from the bigotry of the rabble or the But if there be a likeness, there is sufficient dissimi-
cupidity of princes, fanned their dislike for Christianity larity to make it evident that the two authors wrote

into a flame of intense mortal abhorrence of the Founder independently, and had no common written text to

of that religion whose votaries were their deadliest foes. amplify and adorn.
The Toledoth Jeschu is the utterance of this deep-seated ^

hatred, —the voice of an oppressed people execrating him

who had sprung from the holy race, and whose blood
waa weighing on their heads.
And not improbable that the Gospel record of
it is

the patient, loving life of Jesus may have exerted an

1 Whereas the bitter cooflict of Simon Peter and Simon Magna was a
subject well known in early Christian tradition.
E 2
 THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 77

The author also places the birth of Jesus, in accord-

ance with the Talmud, in the reign of Alexander Jannseus,
who reigned from B.C. 106 to B.C. 79. He reckons from
the creation of the world, and gives the year as 4671
VI. (B.C. 910). This manner of reckoning was only intro-
duced among the Jews in the fourth century after Cluist,
THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JE3CHU. and did not become common tUl the twelfth century.
The Wagenseil Toledoth goes on to say that the widow
We will take first the Wagenseil edition of the
•

engaged Mirjam to an amiable, God-fearing youth, named

ToLEDOTH Jeschu/ and give an outline of the story,
only suppressing the most offensive particulars, and com-
menting on the narrative as we proceed.
Toledoth Jeschu begins as follows
" In the year of the world 4671, in the days of King
nseus, a great misfortune befel Israel There arose at that
time a scape-grace, a wastrel and worthless fellow, of the
fallen race ofJudah, named Joseph Pandira, He was a well-
built man, strong and handsome, but he spent his time in
robbery and violence. His dwelling was at Bethlehem, in
Juda. And there lived near him a widow with her daughter,
whose name was Mirjam ; and this is the same Mirjam who
dressed and curled women's hair, who is mentioned several
times in the Talmud."
Jochanan (John), a disciple of the Eabbi Simeon, son of
Shetach (fl. B.C. 70) but he went away to Babylon,
;
WagenseU's
and she became the mother of Jeschu by Joseph Pandira.
The child was named Joshua, after his uncle, and was
Jjin- given to the Eabbi Elchanan to be instructed in the Law.
One day Jeschu, when a boy, passed before the Rabbi
Simeon Ben Shetach and other members of the Sanhe-
drim without uncovering his head and bowing his knee.
The elders were indignant. Three hundred trumpets
were blown, and Jeschu was excommunicated and cast
out of the Temple. Then he went away to Galilee, and
spent there several years.
" Now at this time the unutterable Name of God was en-

It is remarkable that the author begins with the very graved in the Temple on the comer-stone. For when King
phrase found in Josephus. He calls the appearance of David dug the foimdations, he found there a stone in the
ground on which the Name of God was engraved, and he took
our Lord " a great misfortune which befel Israel" Jose-
it and placed it in the Holy of HoUes.
phus, after the passage which has been intruded into his
" But as the wise men feared lest some inquisitive youth
text relative to the miracles and death of Christ, says,
should learn this Name, and be able thereby to destroy the
" About this time another great misfortune set the Jews
world, which God avert they made, by magic, two brazen
!

in commotion ;" from which it appears as if Josephus

regarded the preaching of Christ as a great misfortune.
That he made no such reference has been already shown.
' Wagenseil: Tela ignea Satanse. Hoc est ar«ani et horribilesJodgeonun
adversas Cbristum Deum et Cbristianam religionem libri anecdoti ; Altdorf,
Uons, which they set before the entrance to the Holy of
HoUes, one on the right, the other on the left.
" Now if any one were to go within, and learn the holy
Name, then the hons would begin to roar as he came out, so
that, out of alarm and bemlderment, he would lose his pre-

1681. sence of mind and forget the Name.

 78 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 79

"And Jeschn left Upper Galilee, and came secretly to we ascertain from the Huldrich text, where we are told
Jerusalem, and went into the Temple and learned
there the that Jeschu spent many years in Egypt, the head-quarters
holy writing ; and after he had written tlie incommunicable
of those who practised magic.
Name on parclunent, he uttered it, with intent that he might
Having acquired this knowledge, Jeschu went into
feel no pain, and then he cut into his flesh,
and hid the Galilee and proclaimed himself to have been the creator
parclunent with its inscription therein. Then he uttered the
of the world, and born of a virgin, according to the pro-
Name once more, and made so that his flesh healed up again.
phecy of Isaiah (vii. 14). As a sign of the truth of his
"And when he went out at the door, the lions roared, and
he forgot the Name. mission, he said
Therefore he hasted outside the town,
cut into his flesh,took the writing out, and when he had " Bring me here a dead man, and I will restore him to life.
sufficiently studied the signs he retained the Name
in his Then all the people hasted and dug into a grave, but found
memory."
nothing in it but bones.
" Now when they told liim that they had found only
It is scarcely necessary here to point out the amazing
bones, he said. Bring them hither to me.
ignorance of the author of the Toledoth Jeschu in making " So when they had brought them, he placed the bones to-
David the builder of the Temple, and in placing the and surrounded them \ntii skin and flesh and muscles,
gether,
images of lions at the entrance to the Holy of Holies. man stood up alive on his feet.
so that the dead
The story is introduced because Jeschu, son of Stada, in " And when the people saw this, they wondered greatly
the Talmud is said to have made marks on his skin. and he said. Do ye marvel at this that I have done 1 Bring
But the author knew his Talmud very imperfectly. The hither a leper, and I will heal him.
Babylonian Gemara says, "Did not the son of Stada " So when they hadplaced a leper before him, he gave him
mark the magical arts on his skin, and bring them with health in like manner,by means of the incommimicablo Name.
him out of Egypt ?" The story in the Talmud which And all the people that saw this fell down before him, prayed
accoimted for the power of Jeschu to work miracles was to him and said. Truly thou art the Son of God
" But after five days the report of what had been done
quite different from that in the Toledoth Jeschu. In
came to Jerusalem, to the holy city, and all was related that
the Talmud he has power by bringing out of Egypt,
Jeschu had wrought in Galilee. Then all the people re-
secretly cut on his skin, the magic arts there privately
joiced greatly ; but the elders, the pious men, and the com-
taught ; in the Toledoth he acquires his power by learn-
pany of the wise men, wept bitterly. And the great and the
ing the incommunicable Name and hiding it under his agreed that they
little Sanhedrim mourned, and at length
flesh.
would send a deputation to him.
However, the author says, " He could not have pene- " For they thought that, perhaps, with God's help, they
trated into theHoly of Holies without the aid of magic might overpower him, and bring him to judgment, and con-
for how wouldthe holy priests and followers of Aaron demn him to death.
have Buffered him to enter there ? This must certainly " Therefore they sent unto him Ananias and Achasias, the
have been done by the aid of magic." But the author^ noblest men of the little council; and when they had come to
gives no account of how Jeschu learned magic. That him, they bowed themselves before him reverently, in order to
80 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU, 81

deceive him as to their purpose. And he, thinking that they reigned after her husband's death. She was also called
believed in him, received them with smiling countenance, and Oleina,and had a son. King Mumbasus, otherwise called
placed them in his assembly of profligates. Hyrcanus, who was slain by his servant Herod.*
"They said unto him. The most pious and illustrious " And they said to her. He stirreth up the people ; there-
among the Jerusalem sent us Tinto thee, to hear if
citizens of fore is he guilty of the heaviest penalty. Give unto us full

it shall please thee to go to them ; for they have heard say power, and we will take him by subtlety.
that thou art the Son of God. " Then the Queen said. Call him hither before me, and I
" Then answered Jeschu and said. They have heard aright. wiU hear lus accusation. But she thought to save him out
I will do all that they desire, but only on condition that both of their hands because he was related to her. But when the
the great and lesser Sanhedrim and all who have despised my elders saw her purpose, they said to her, Think not to do
origin shall come forth to meet me, and shall honour and re- this. Lady and Queen ! and show him favour and good; for

ceive me as servants of their Lord, when I come to them. by his witchcraft ho deceives the people. And they related
" Thereupon the messengers returned to Jerusalem and re- to her obtained the incommunicable Name.
how he had . . .

lated all that they had heard. " Then the Queen answereil, In this will I consent unto
"Then answered the elders and the righteous men, We you ; bring him hither that I may hear what he saith, and
wUl do all that he desires. Therefore these men went again see with my eyes what he doth ; for the whole world speaks
to Jeschu, and told him that it should be even as he had of the countless miracles that he has wrought.
said. " And the wise men answered. This will we do as thou
" And Jeschu said, I will go forthwith on my way ! And hast said. So they sent and summoned Jeschu, and he came
it came to pass, when he liad come as far as Nob,* nigh unto and stood before the Queen."
Jerusalem, that he said to his followers. Have ye here a good
In the sight of Queen Helena, Jeschu then healed a
and comely ass 1

" They answered leper and raised a dead man to life.

him that there was one even at hand.
"Then Jeschu Of me did Isaiah prophesy: The
Therefore he said, Bring him hither to me. said.

" And a stately ass was brought unto him, and he sat upon lame shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall

it, and rode into Jerusalem. And

Jeschu entered into the
as sing.
Then he cried, " So the Queen turned to the wise men and said, How say
city, all the people went forth to meet him.
saying, Of me did the prophet Zacharias testify, Behold thy ye that this man is a magician 1 Have I not seen with my
King cometji unto thee, righteous and a Saviour, poor, and eyes the wonders he has wrought as being the Son of God 1
" But the wise men answered and said. Let it not come
riding on an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass !

into the heart of the Queen to say so for of a truth he is a

"Now when they heard this, aU wept bitterly and rent ;

their clothes. And the most righteous hastened to the Queen. wizard.
King Jannrous, and she
" Then the Queen said.Away with you, and bring no such
She was the Queen Helena, wife of
accusations again before me !

1 Nob was a city of Benjamin, Bitaated on a beiglit near Jernsalem, on

i^erod put Alexander Hyrcanns to death B.C. 30. Alexandra, the

one of the roads which led from the north to the capital, and within light
to
approach of the Assyrian mother of Hyrcanns, reigned after the death of Jannsus, from B.C. 79
of it, as is certain from the description of the
army in Isaiah (x. 28—32). B.C. 71.
E 3
82 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE FIKST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 83

you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end
" Therefore the of
vrise men went forth with sad hearts, and
one turned to another and said, Let us use subtlety, that we the earth even unto the other end of the earth
may get him into our hands. And one said to another, If it
" Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him
spare,
seems right unto you, one of us leam the Name, as he did,
let neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou
and work miracles, and perchtmce thus we shall secure him. neither shalt thou conceal him :

And tliis counsel pleased the elders, and they said. He who " But thou shalt surely kill him ; thine hand shall be first
will leam the Name and secure Ihe Fatherless One shall receive upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of
a double reward in the future life. all the people.
" And thereupon one of the elders stood up, whose name " thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die ; be-
And
was Judas, and spake unto them, saying, Are ye agreed to cause he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord
thy
the land of Egypt, from the
take upon you the blame of such an action, if I speak the God, which brought thee out of
incommunicable Name 1 for if so, I will leam it, and it may house of bondage.
happen that God in His mercy may bring the Fatherless One " But the Fatheriess One answered, Did not Isaias pro-
into my power. phesy of mel And my father David, did he not speak of
" Then The Lord said unto me, *rhou art my Son; this day
all cried out with one voice, The guilt be on us mel
but do thou make the effort and succeed. have I begotten thee. Desire of me, and I will give thee
of
" Thereupon he went uito the Holiest Place, and did what the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost part
Thou shalt rule them with a
Jeschu had done. And after that he went through the city the earth for thy possession.
rod of iron, and break them in pieces hke a potter's
vessel.
and raised a cry, Where are those who have proclaimed
And in like manner he speaks in another place, The Lord said
abroad that the Fatherless is the Son of Godi Cannot I,

who am mere flesh and blood, do all that Jeschu has done t unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, tUl I make tliine

" And when this came to the ears of the Queen, Judas was enemies my footstool ! And now, behold ! I will ascend to

brought before her, and all the elders assembled and followed . my Heavenly Father, and will sit me down atHis right hand.

him. Then the Queen siunmoned Jeschu, and said to him, Ye shall see it with your eyes, but thou, Judas, shalt not
Show us what thou hast done last. And he began to work prevail
" And when Jeschu had spoken the incommmucable Name,
mimcles before all the people.
there came a wind and raised him between heaven and
earth.
" Thereat Judas spake to the Queen and to all the people,
Thereupon Judas spake the same Name, and the wind raised
saying. Let nothing that has been wrought by the Fatherless
make you wonder, for were he to set his nest between the him also betsveen heaven and earth. And they flew, both of
them, around in the regions of the air and all who saw it
stars, yet would I pluck him down from thence !
;

" Then said Judas, Moses our teacher said :

marvelled.
" If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy " Judas then spake again the Name, and seized Jeschu, and
thought to cast him to the earth. But Jeschu also spake the
daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is

as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying. Let us go and Name, and sought to cast Judas down, and they strove one
serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy with the other."
fathers Finally Judas prevails, and casts Jeschu to the ground,
" Namely, of the gods of the people which are roimd about he
and the eldeis seize him, his power leaves him, and

li
84 JEWISU AHTI-GOSPELS. THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 85

issubjected to the tauntings of his captors. Then sen- cross was buried. Judas resisted, but was starved in a
tence of death was spoken against him. well tUl he revealed the secret. The resemblance between

" But when Jeschu found his power gone, he cried and the stories consists in the names of Helena and Judas,

said, Of me did my father David speak, For thy sake are we

and the miracles of healing a leper, and raising a dead
killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the
man to life.

slaughter. According to the Apocryphal Acts of St. Cyriacus,

" Now when the disciples of Jeschu saw this, and all the Judas was the grandson of Zacharias, and nephew of
multitude of sinners who had followed him, they fought St. Stephen the protomartyr.^
against the elders and wise men of Jerusalem, and gave Jeschu It is remarkable that Jeschu should be made to quote
opportunity to escape out of the city. two passages in the Psalms as prophecies of himself,
" And he hasted to Jordan ; and when ho had washed both of which are used in this manner in the New Tes-
therein his power returned, and with the Name he again tament Ps. ii. 7, in Acts xiii. 33, and again Heb. L 5,
:

wrought his former miracles. and v. 5 and Ps. ex. 1, in St. Matthew xxii 44, and
;

" Thereafter he went and took two millstones, and made

the corresponding passages in St. Mark and St. Luke
them swim on the water ; and ho seated liimself thereon, and also in Acts ii. 34, in 1 Cor. xv. 25, and Heb. i. 13.
caught fishes to feed the multitudes that followed hini." The scene of the struggle in the air is taken from the
contest of St. Peter with Simon Magus, and reminds
Before going any further, it is advisable to make a
few remarks on what has been given of this curious one of the contest in the Arabian Nights between the
story.
Queen of Beauty and the Jin in the story of the Second
Calender.
The Queen Helena is probably the mother of Gonstan-
The putting forth from land on a miUstone on the
tine, who went to Jerusalem in A.D. 326 to see the holy
occasion of the miraculous draught of fishes is probably
sites, and, according to an early legend, discovered the
three crosses on Calvary.
a perversion of the incident of Jesus entering into the
There are several incidents
in the apocryphal story which bear a resemblance to
boat of Peter — —
the stone before the miracle was per-

the incidents in the Toledoth Jeschu.

formed, according to St. Luke, v. 1 8. In the Toledoth —
Jeschu there are two mUlstones which our Lord sets
The Empress Helena favours the Christians against
and he mounts one, and then the fishes are
afloat,
the Jews. Wliere three crosses are found, a person suf-
caught in St. Luke's Gospel there are two boats.
;
fering from " a grievousand incurable disease" is applied
to the crosses, and recovers on touching the true one. " two ships Standing by the lake
He saw And he
Then the same experiment is tried with a dead body, entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed

with the same success.^ According to the Apocryphal him that he would thrust out a httle from the land. And he
sat down and taught the people out of the ship. Now when
Acts of St. Cyriacus, a Jew named Judas was brought
he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into
before the Empress, and ordered to point out where the
the deep, and let down your nets for a draught"
> Sozomen, Hist. Sccl. ii. 1.
» Acta Sanct. MaL T. I. pp. 445—451.
86 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 87

It was standing on the swimming-stone, according to cried, saying. Give me So they gave him
water to drink !

the Huldrich version, that Jeschu preached to the people, acid vinegar; and after he had drunk thereof he cried. Of
and declared to them his divine mission. me did my father David prophesy, They gave me gall to
The story goes oa
The Sanhedrim, fearing to allow eat, and in my thirst they gave mo vinegar to drink.^ But
Jeschu to remain at liberty, send Judas after him to they answered. If thou wert God, why didst thou not know
Jordan. Judas pronounces a great incantation, which it was vinegar before tasting of it? Now thou art at the

obliges the Angel of Sleep to seal the eyes of Jeschu and

brink of the grave, and changest not. But Jeschu wept and
his disciples.Then, whUst they sleep, he comes and
said, My God, my God why ! hast thou forsaken me 1 And
the elders said, If thou be God, save thyself from our hands.
cuts from the arm of Jeschu a scrap of parchment on
But Jeschu answered, saying, My blood is shed for the re-
which the Name of Jehovah and which was
is written,
demption of the world, for Isaiah prophesied of me. He was
concealed under the flesL Jeschu awakes, and a spirit
wounded for our transgression and bruised for our iniquities
appears to him and vexes him sore. Then he feels that our chastisement Ues upon him that we may have peace, and
his power is gone, and he announces to his disciples by his wounds we are healed.^ Then they led Jeschu forth
that his hour is come when he must be taken by his before the greater and the lesser Sanhedrim, and he was sen-
enemies. tenced to be stoned, and then to be hung on a tree. And it
The amongst whom is Judas, who, unob-
disciples, was the eve of the Passover and of the Sabbath- And they
served, has mingled with them, are sorely grieved but ; led bim forth to the place where the punishment of stoning

Jeachu encourages them, and bids them believe in him,
and they will obtain thrones in heaven. Then he goes
with them to the Paschal Feast, in hopes of again being
able to penetrate into the Holy of Holies, and reading
again the incommunicable Name, and of thus recovering
his power. But Judas forewarns the elders, and as Jeschu
enters the Temple he is attacked by armed men. The
Jewish servants do not know Jeschu from his disciples.
Accordingly Judas flings himself down before him, and
thus indicates whom they are to take. Some of the dis-
ciples ofler resistance, but are speedily overcome,
take to flight to the mountains, where they are caught
was wont to be executed, and they stoned him there till he
was dead. And after that, the wise men hung him on the
tree ; but no tree would bear Tiim j each brake and yielded.
And when even was come the wise men said, We may not,
on account of the Fatherless, break the letter of the law
(which forbids that one who is hung should remain all night
on the tree). Though he may have set at naught the law,
yet will not we. Therefore they buried the Fatherless in the
place where he was stoned. And when midnight was come,
the disciples came and seated themselves on the grave, and
wept and lamented him. Now when Judas saw this, he took
and the body away and buried it in his garden under a brook.
He diverted the water of the brook elsewhere but when the ;

and executed. body was laid in its bed, he brought its waters back again
" But the elders of Jerusalem led Jeschu in chains into the into their former channeL

city, and bound him to a marble pillar, and scourged him, Now on the morrow, when the disciples had assembled
"

and said, Where are now all the miracles thou hast wrought 1 and had seated themselves weeping, Judas came to them and
And they plaited a crown of thorns and set it on his head. said, Why weep youl Seek Him who was buried. And
Then the Fatherless was in anguish through thirst, and he » P«. liii. 22. » Isa. liii. 5.
 88 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 89

they dug and sought, and found him not, and

aU the company the Queen, and said. See ! this is the man who, they say, has
cried, He is not in the grave; he is risen
and ascended into ascended into heaven
heaven, for, when he was yet alive, he said. He " Now when the Queen saw
would raise this, she was filled with shame,
!"
him up, Selah
and answered not a word.
" Now it fell out, that in dragging the body to the place,
When the Queen heard that the elders had slain the hair was torn oflf the head ; and this is the reason why
Jeschu and had burled him, and that he was risen
monks shave their heads. It is done in remembrance of what
again, she ordered them within three days
to produce befel Jeschu.
the body or forfeit their lives. In sore alarm, the " And after this, in consequence thereof, there grew to be
elders
seek the body, but cannot find it. They therefore pro- strife between the Nazarenes and the Jews, so tliat tliey parted
claim a fast. asunder ; and when a Nazarene saw a Jew he slew him. And
from (lay to day the distress grew greater, during thirty years.
" Now there was amongst
them an elder whose name was And the Nazarenes assembled in tliousands and tens of thou-
Tanchuma and he went forth in sore distress, and wandered
; sands, and hindered tlie Israehtes from going up to the festi-
in the fields, and he saw Judas sitting in his garden eating. vals at Jerusalem. ^Vnd then there was great distress, such
Then Tanchuma drew near to him, and said to him. What as wlien the golden calf was set up, so tliat they knew not
doest thou, Judas, that thou eatest meat, when all the Jews what to do.
fast and are in grievous distress 1 ^ "And the behef of the opposition grew more and more,
" Then Judas was astonished, and asked the occasion and spread on all sides. Also twelve godless runagates sepa-
of
the fast. And the Eabbi Tanchuma answered him, Jeschu rated and traversed the twelve realms, and everywhere in the
the Fatherless is the occasion, for he was hung up and buried assembhes of the people uttered false prophecies.
on the spot where he was stoned ; but now is he taken away, "Also many IsraeUtes adhered to them, and these were
and we know not where he is gone. And his worthless dis- men of high renown, and they strengthened the faith in
ciples cry out that he is ascended into heaven. Now the Jeschu. And because they gave themselves out to bo mes-
Queen has condemned us Israelites to death unless we find him who was hung, a great number followed them
sengers of
him. from among the IsraeUtes.
"Judas asked, And if the Fatherless One were found, " Now when the wise men saw the desperate condition of
would it be the salvation of Israel ? The Babbi Tanchuma afiaira, one said to another. Woe is unto us ! for we have de-
answered that it would be even so. served it through our sins. And they sat in great distress,
" Then spake Judas, Come, and I will show you the man and wept, and looked up to heaven and prayed.
whom ye seek
; was
for I who
it took the Fatherless from " And when they had ended their prayer, there rose up a
his grave. For I feared lest his disciples should steal him very aged man of the elders, by name Simon Cephas, who
away, and I have hidden him in my garden and led a water- understood prophecy, and he said to the others. Hearken to
brook over the place. me, my brethren and if ye wiU consent unto my advice, I
!

" Then the Eabbi Tanchuma hasted to the elders of Israel, will separate these wicked ones from the company of the
and told them alL And they came together, and drew him .
IsraeUtes, that they may have neither part nor lot with Israel
forth, attached to the tail of a horse, and brought him before But the sin do ye take upon you.
90 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 91

" Then answered they all and said, The sin be on us ; de- to do no harm to any Jew. Jew say to a
Yea, even should a
clare unto us thy counsel, and fulfil thy purpose. Nazarene, Go with me him twain ; or
a mile, he shaU go with
" Therefore Simon, son of Cephas, went into the Holiest should a Nazarene be smitten by a Jew on one cheek, let him
Place and wrote the incommunicable Name, and cut into hia turn to hun the other also, that the Jews may enjoy in this
flesh and liid the parchment therein. And when he came world their good things, for in the world to come they must
forth out of the Temple he took
forth the writing, and when punishment in helL
suffer their If ye do these things, then
he had learned the Name
ho betook himself to the chief city shaU ye merit to sit with them {i.e. the apofetles) on their

of the Nazarenes,^ and he cried there with a loud voice. Let thrones.^
all who believe in Jeschu come unto me, for I am sent by "And doth he require of you, that ye do not
this also
him to you celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but that ye
keep
" Then there came to him multitudes as the sand on the holy the day on wliich he died. And in place of the Feast
sea-shore, and they said to him. Show us a sign that thou art of Pentecost, that ye keep the fortieth day after his stoning,
sent ! And
he said, "What sign ? They answered him. Even on wliich he went up into heaven- And in place of the
the signs that Jeschu wrought when he was alive." Feast of Tabernacles, that ye keep the day of his Nativity,
and eight days after tliat ye shall celebrate his Circumcision."
Accordingly he heals a leper and restores a dead man
to life. And when the people saw this, they submitted The Christians promised to do as Cephas commanded
to Idm, as one sent to them by Jeschu. them, but they desired him to reside in the midst of
" Then said Simon Cephas to them. Yea, verily, Jeschu did them in their great city.
send me to you, and now swear imto me that ye will obey To this he consented. " I will dwell with you," said
me in all things that I command you. he, " if ye will promise to permit me to abstain from
" And they swore to him, We will do aU things that thou all food, and to eat only the bread of poverty
and drink
commandest. the water of affliction. Ye must also buUd me a tower
" Then Simon Cephas said, Te know that he who hung on in the midst of the city, wherein I may spend the rest

the tree was an enemy to the Israelites and the Law, because of my days."
of the prophecy of Isaiah, Your new moons and festivals my This was done. The tower was bmlt and called
soul hatetL^ And that he had no pleasure in the IsraeUtes, " Peter,"and in this Cephas dwelt tUl his death six years
according to the saying of Hosea, Ye are not my people.'
after. " In truth, he served the God of our fathers,
Now, although it is in his power to blot them in the twink-
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and composed many beautiful
ling of an eye from off the face of the earth, yet will he not
hymns, which he dispersed among the Jews, that they
root them out, but will keep them ever in the midst of you
might serve as a perpetual memorial of hun; and he
as a witness to his stoning and hanging on the tree. He en- the Eabbis of Israel."
divided all his hymns among
dured these pains and the punishment of death, to redeem in the tower.
On his death he was buried
your soula from helL And now he warns and conunands you
After his death, a man named Elias assumed the place
* Bome. Simon Cephas ia Simon Peter, bat the mitacoloos power
I of messenger of Jeschu, and he declared that Simon
attributed to him perhaps belongs to the story of Simon Magus.
* Isa. * Hosea L
» Matt. xii. 28.
i. 14. 9.
 92 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 93

Cephas had deceived the Christians, and that

he, Elias, Talmud, Jeschu is stoned, and tJien, to identify the son
was an apostle of Jeschu, rather than Cephas,
and that of Panthera with the son of Mary, hung on a tree.
is
the Christians should follow him.
The Christians asked The tree breaks, and he falls to the ground. The visitor
for a sign.
to Ober Ammergau Passion Play will remember the
EUas
said, "What sign do ye ask?"
Then a stone scene of Judas hanging himself, and the tree snapping.
from the, tower Peter, and smote him that
fell
he died. The Toledoth Jeschu does not say that Jeschu was cru-
"Thus," concludes this first version of the
Toledoth cified, but that he was hung. The suicide of Judas was
Jeschu, "may Thine enemies perish,
all Lord; but identified with the death of Jesus. If the author of the
may those that love Thee be as the sun when
!"
it shineth anti-evangel saw the scene of the breaking bough in
in its strength
a miracle-play, he would perhaps naturally transfer it
Thus ends this wonderful composition, which carries to Christ.
its own condemnation with it. The women seated late at night by the sepulchre, or
The two captures and sentences of Jeschu are appa- coming early with spices, a feature in miracle-plays of
rently two forms of Jewish legend Concerning
Christ's the Passion, are transformed into the disciples weeping
death, which the anonymous writer has
clumsily com- above the grave. The angel Avho addresses them, in the
bined.
Toledoth Jeschu, becomes Judas.
TJie scene in Gethsemane is laid on the other side of In miracle-plays, Claudia Procula, the wife of Pilate,
Jordan. It is manifestly imitated from the Gospels, but assumes a prominence she does not occupy in the Gos-
not directly, probably from some medireval sculptured pels she may have originated the idea in the mind
;

representation of the Agony in the Garden, common of the author of Wagenseil's Toledoth, of the Queen
outside every large church.^ In place of an angel ap- Helena. That lie confounded the Queen of King Jan-
pearing to comfort Christ, an evil spirit vexes him. The naeus with the mother of Constantine is not wonderful
kiss of Judas is transformed into a genuflexion or pros- The latter was the only historical princess who showed
tration before him, and takes place, not in the Garden, sympathy with the Christians at Jerusalem, and of
but in the Temple. The resistance of the disciples is whose existence the anonymous author was aware, pro-
mentioned. Jeschu is bound to a marble pillar and bably through the popular mediaeval romance of Helena,
scourged. Of this tlie Gospels say nothing; but the " La belle Helfene." He therefore feU without a struggle
pillar is an invariable feature in artistic representations into the gross anachronism of making the Empress
of the scourging. Two of the sayings on the Cross are Helena the wife of Jannseus, and contemporary with
correctly given. In agreement with the account in the Christ.
In the Toledoth Jeschu of Wagenseil, Simon Peter is

* The Oelberg was Qerman churches, and

especially characteristic of represented as a Jew ruling the Christians in favour of
was erected and sixteenth centuries. They remain
chiefly in the fifteenth
the Jews. The Papacy must have been fuUy oi^anized
at Nttmbetg, Xasten, Worms, Marburg, Donauworth, Landshut, Was-
when this anti-evangel was written, and the Jews must
serbnrg, Batisbon, Kloatemeabui;g; Wittenberg, Mersebnrg, Lucerne,
Bruges, Ice. have felt the protection accorded them by the Popes
94 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS.
against their persecutors. St Gregoiy the Great wrote
591 and 598, in hehalf of the Jews who were
letters, in
maltreated in Italy and Sicily. Alexander II., in 1068,
wrote a letter to the Bishops of Gaul exhorting them to
protect the Jews against the violence of the Crusaders,
who massacred them on their way to the East He
gave as his reason for their protection the very one put
intoSimon Cephas' mouth in the Toledoth Jeschu, that
God had preserved them and scattered them in aU
countries as witnesses to the truth of the Gospel In the
cruel confiscation of their goods, and expulsion from
France by Philip Augustus, and the'simultaneous perse-
cution they underwent in England, Innocent III. took
their side, and insisted, in 1199, on their beijig protected
from violence. Gregory IX. defended them when mal-
treated in Spain and in France by the Crusaders in 1236,
on their appeal to him for protection. In 1246, the Jews
of Germany appealed to the Pope, Innocent IV., against
the ecclesiastical and secular princes who pillaged them
on false charges. Innocent wrote, in 1247, ordering
those who had wroiiged them to indemnify them for
their losses.
In 1417, the Jews of Constance came to meet Mar-
on his coronation, with hymns
tin v., as their protector,
and torches, and presented him with the Pentateuch,
which he had the discourtesy to refuse, saying that they
might have the Law, but they did not understand it
The claim made in the Toledoth Jeschu that the
Papacy was a government in the interest of the Jews
against the violence of the Christians, points to the thir-
teenth century as the date of the composition of this
book, a century when the Jews suffered more from
Christian brutality than at any other period, when
their exasperation against everything Christian was
wrought to its highest pitch, and when they found the
THE FIBST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 95
Chair of Peter their only protection against extermina-
tionby the disciples of Christ
Some dim reference may be made to the anti-pope of
Jewish blood, Peter Leonis, who took the name of Ana-
cletus II., and who siurvives in modern Jewish legend
as the Pope Elchanan. Anacletus II. (AD. 1130
1138) maintained his authority in Eome against Inno-
cent II., and from his refuge in the tower of St Angelo
defied the Emperor Lothair, who had marched to Eome
to install Innocent Anacletus was accused of show-
ing favoxir to the Jews, whose blood he inherited his—
father was a Jewish usurer. When Christians shrank
from robbing the churches of their silver and golden
ornaments, required by Anacletus to pay his mercenaries
and bribe the venal Romans, he is said to have en-
trusted the odious task to the Jews.
Jewish legend has converted the Jewish anti-pope
into the son of the Rabbi Simeon Ben Isaac, of Mainz,
who died AD. 1096. According to the story, the child
Elchanan was stolen from his father and mother by a
Christian nurse, was taken charge of by monks, grew
up to be ordained priest and finally was elected Pope.
As a child he had been wont to play chess with his
father, and had learned from him a favourite move
whereby to check-matg his adversary.
The Jews of Germany suffered from oppression, and
appointed the Rabbi Simeon to bear their complaints to
the Pope. The old Jew went to Rome and was intro-
duced to the presence of the Holy Father. Elchanan
recognized him at once, and sent forth all his attendants,
then proposed a game of chess with the RabbL When
the Pope played the favourite move of the old Jew,
Simeon Ben Isaac sprang up, smote his brow, and cried
out, " I thought none knew this move save I and my
long-lost child." " I am that child," answered the
96 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 97

Pope, and he flung himself into the arms of the aged of the Christian fanatics. The Archbishop of !Mainz
Jew.^ was more than suspected of participation in the plunder
That the Wagenseil Toledoth Jeschu was -written in the of his Jewish subjects. The Emperor took on himself
eleventh, twelfth or thirteenth century appears probable the protection and redress of the ^vrongs endured by the

from the fact stated, that it was in these centuries that the Jews, and it was apparently at this time that the Jews
Jews were more subjected to persecution, spoliation and were formally taken under feudal protection by tlie
massacre than in any other and the Toledoth Jeschu is
; Emperor. They became his men, owing to him special
the cry of rage of a tortured people, a curse hurled —
at allegiance, and with full right therefore to his protec-

the Founder of that religion which oppressed them. tion.

In the eleventh century the Jews in the great Rhine The Toledoth Jeschu of Wagenseil was composed by
citieswere massacred by the ferocious hosts of Cru- a German Jew; that is apparent from its mention of
saders under Ernico, Count of Leiningen, and the
priests the letter of the synagogue of Worms to the Sanhedrim.

Folkmar and Goteschalk At the voice of their leaders Had it been written in the eleventh century, it would
(A.D. 1096), the furious multitude of red-crossed
pil- not have represented the Pope as the refuge of the per-

grims spread through the cities of the Rhine and the secuted Jews, for it was the Emperor who redressed
MoseUe, massacring pitilessly all the Jews that they their wrongs.

met with in their passage. In their despair, a great But it was in the thirteenth century that the Popes

number preferred being their own destroyers to awaiting stood forth as the special protectors of the Jews. On
certain death at the hands of their
enemies. Several May 1, 1291, the Jewish bankers .throughout France

shut themselves up in their houses, and perished amidst were seized and imprisoned by order of Philip the Fair,
flames their own hands had kindled; some attached and forced to pay enormous mulcts. Some died under
them- torture, most yielded, and then fled the inhospitable
heavy stones to their garments, and precipitated
Rhine or MoseUe. realm. Five years after, in one day, all the Jews in
selves and their treasures into the
Mothers stifled their chUdren at the breast, saying that France were taken, their property confiscated to the
of Abraham Crown, the race expelled the realm.
they preferred sending them to the bosom
nurtured in a reUgion In 1320, the Jews of the South of France, notwith-
to seeing them torn away to be
standing persecution and expulsion, were again in num-
which bred tigers. . .

Some the ecclesiastics behaved with

of
Christian bers and perilous prosperity. On them burst the fury
Worms and Spires ran some of the Pastoureaux. Five hundred took refuge in the
humanity. The Bishops of
could of this defenceless royal castle of Verdun on the Garonne. The royal
risk in saving as many as they
Archbishop of Treves, less generous, gave officers refused to defend them. The shepherds set fire
people. The
to receive baptism,
would consent to the lower stories of a lofty tower; the Jews slew
refuse to such only as
the knives and halters each other, having thrown their children to the mercy of
aiid°coldly consigned the rest to
their assailants. Everywhere, even in the great cities,
fully in the ChriBtmas
have told the story more
»
M&4ae, c. 188. I
Auch, Toulouse, Castel Sarrazen, the Jews were left to
Number of "Once a Week," 18G8.
F
93 JEAVISH ANTI-GOSPELS.
THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 99

be remorselessly massacred and their property pillaged.

force them to receive baptism ; and a letter to the King
The Pope himself might have seen the smoke of the
entreating him to exert his authority to repress the fury
fires that consumed them darkening the horizon from
of the Crusaders against the Jews.
the walls of Avignon. But Jolm XXII., cold, arrogant,
In 1240, the Jews were expelled from Brittany by the
rapacious, stood by unmoved. He launched his excom- Duke John, at the request of the Bishops of Brittany.
munication, not against the murderers of tlie inoffensive
In 1240, the persecution reached its height in Ger-
Jews, but against aU who presumed to take the Cross
many. Bishops and nobles vied with each other in de-
without warrant of the Holy See. Even that same year
spoilingand harassing the unfortunate Hebrews. They
he published violent bulls against the poor persecuted
were charged with killing Christian children and de-
Hebrews, and commanded the Bishops to destroy their
vouring their hearts at their Passover. Whenever a
Talmud, the source of their detestable blasphemies but ;
dead body was found, the Jews were accused of the
he bade those who should submit to baptism to be pro-
murder. Hosts were dabbled in blood, and tlirown
tected from pillage and massacre.
down at their doors, and the ignorant mob rose against
The Toledoth Jeschu, therefore, cannot have been
such profanation of the sacred mysteries. They were
written at the beginning of the fourteenth century,
stripped of their goods, thrown into prison, starved,
when the Jews had such experience of the indifference Erom
racked, condemned to the stake or to the gallows.
of a Pope to their wrongs. We are consequently forced
the German towns miserable trains of yellow-girdled
to look to the thirteenth century as its date. And the
and capped exiles issued, seeking some more hospitable
thirteenth century will provide us with instances of
homes. If they left behind them their wealth, they
persecution of the Jews in Germany, and Popes exerting
carried with tliem their industry.
themselves to protect them.
A deputation of German Rabbis visited the Pope,
In 1236, the Jews were the subject of an outburst of
Innocent IV., at Lyons, and laid the complaints of the
popular fury throughout Europe, but especially in Spain,
Jews before him. Innocent at once took up their cause.
where a In France, the
fearful carnage took place.
He Avrote to all the bishops of Germany, on July 5th,
Crusaders of Guienne, Poitou, Anjou and Brittany killed
1247, ordering them to favour the Jews, and insist on
them, without sparing the women and children. Women
the redress of the wrongs to which they had been sub-
with child were ripped up. The unfortunate Jews were
jected,whether at the hands of ecclesiastics or nobles.
thrown down, and trodden under tlie feet of horses.
A similar letter was then forwarded by him to all the
Their houses were ransacked, their books burned, their
bishops of France.
treasures canied off Those who refused baptism were
At this period it was in vain for the Jews to appeal
tortured or killed. The unhappy people sent to Rome, to the Emperor. Frederick II. was excommunicated,
and implored the Pope to extend his protection to them. and Germany in revolt, fanned by the Pope, against him.
Gregory IX. wrote at once to the Archbishop of Bor- at Bud-
A new Emperor had been proposed at a meeting
deaux, the Bishops of Saintes, Angouleme and Poictiers, Bohemia and Bavaria,
weis to the electors of Austria,
forbidding constraint to be exercised on the Jews to
but the proposition had been rejected. Henry of Thu-
F 2
100 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE FIRST TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 101

ringia,however, set up by Innocent, and supported by down, and he died in 1253, making a death-bed recon-
the ecclesiastical princes of Germany, had been crowned ciliation with Rome.
at Hochem. A crusade was preached against the Em- But though it is thus possible to give an historical ex-
peror Frederick ; Henry of Thuringia was defeated and planation of the curious circumstance that the Toledoth
died. The indefatigable Innocent,
clinging to the Jeschu ranges the Pope among the friends of Judaism
cherished policy of the Papal See to ruin the unity of and the enemies of Christianity, and provide for the
Germany by stirring up intestine strife, found another identification of Elias with the fallen General of the
candidate in William of Holland. He wascrowned at ]\ILnorites, —the story points perhaps to a dim recollec-
Aix-la-Chapelle, October 3, 1247. From this time till tion of Simon Peter being
at the head of the Judaizing
his death, four years after, the cause of Frederick de- Church at Jerusalemand Eome, which made common
clined. Frederick was mostly engaged in wars in Italy, cause with the Jews, and of Paul, here designated Elias,
and had not leisure, if he had the power, to attend to in opposition to him.
and right the wrongs of his Jewish vassals.
It was at this period that I think we may conclude
the Toledoth Jeschu of AVagenseil was written.
Another consideration tends to confirm this view.
The Wagenseil Toledoth Jeschu speaks of Elias rising
up after the death of Simon Cephas, and denovmcing
him as having led the Christians away.
Was there any Elias at the close of the thirteenth
century who did thus preach against the Pope ? There
was. Elias of Cortona, second General of the Franciscan
Order, the leader of a strong reactionary party opposed
who maintained the
to the Spirituals or Csesarians, those
had been deposed, then carried back
rule in all its rigour,
into the Generalship by a recoil of the party wave, then
appealed against to the Pope, deposed once more, and
finally excommunicated. Elias joined the Emperor
Frederick, the deadly foe of Innocent IV., and, sheltered
under his "ning, denounced the venality, the avarice, the
extortion of the Papacy. As a close attendant on the
German Emperor, his adviser, as one who encouraged
him in his opposition to a Pope who protected tlie Jews,
the German Jews must have heard of him. But the
stone of excommunication flung at him struck him
 THE SECOND TOLEDOTII JESCHIT. 103

After many years a famine broke out in Egypt, and

Joseph and Mirjam, with their son Jeschu and his
brethren, returned to Canaan and settled at Nazareth.

" Aud Jeschu grew up, and went to Jerusalem to acquire

VII. knowledge, in the scliool of Josluia, tlie son of Perachia
(13. C. DO) ; aud lie made there great advancej so tliat ho
THE SECOND TOLEDOTH JESCIFU. learned the mystery of the chariot aud the holy Name.^
" One day it fell out that Jeschu was jilaying ball with the
"We will now
analyze and give extracts from the sons of the priests, near the chamlier (.Jasith, on the hill of
second anti-evangel of the Jews, the Toledotii Jeschu the Temple. Then hy accident the ball fell into the Fish-
OF HULDRICII.^ .
valley. And Jescliu was very grieved, and in his anger he
It begins thus :
"
In the reign of King Herod the plucked the hat from olF his liead, and cast it on the ground
Proselyte, there lived a man named Papus Ben Jehuda. aud burst into lamentations. Tliereupon the boys warned
To him was betrothed Mirjam, daughter of Kalphus; him to put his hat on again, for it was not comely to be with

and her bvotlier's name was Simeon. He was a IJabbi, uncovered head. Jeschu answereJ, Verily, Moses gave you
the son of Kalphus. not this law ; it is but an addition of the lawyers, and there-
This Mirjam, before her betrothal,
fore need not be observed.
was a hair-dresser to women She was surpassin<'
" Now there sat there, Rabbi Eliezer and Joshua Ben
beautifid in form. She was of the tribe of Benjamin."
Levi (A.D. 220), and the Rabbi Akiba (A.D. 135) hard by,
On
account of her extraordinary beauty, she was kept
in the school, and they heard the words that Jeschu had
locked up in a house but she escaped through a win-
;
spoken. ^
dow, and fled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem with Joseph " Then said the Rabbi Eliczcr, That boy is certainly a
Pandira, of Nazareth. Mamser. But Rabbi Joshua, .son of Levi, said, He is a Ben-
As has been already Papus Ben Jehuda was a
said, haunidda. And the Rabbi Akiba said also, He is a Ben-
contemporary of Pabbi Akiba, and died about A.D. 140. haunidda.* Therefore the Rabbi Akil)a went forth out of the
In the "Wagenseil Toledoth Jeschu, Mirjam is betrothed school, aud asked Jeschu in what city he was bom. Jeschu
to a Jochanan. In the latter, Mary lives at Bethlehem answereil, I am of Nazareth ; my father's name is Mezaria,*

in the Toledoth of Huldrich, she resides at Jerusalem. and my mother's name is Karchat.
" Then the Rabbis Akiba, Eliezer and Joshua went into
IMany years after, the place of the retreat of Mirjam
and Joseph Pandira having been made known to Herod, the school of the Rabbi Josliua, son of Perachia, and seized
Jeschu by the hair and cut it off in a circle, and washed his
he sent to Bethlehem orders for their arrest, and for
the massacre of the children but Joseph, who had been
;
* The mystery of the chariot ia that of the chariot of God and the cherubic
beasts, Ezekieli. The Jews wrote the name of God without vowels, Jhvh
forewarned hy a kinsman in the court of Herod, fled
the Towel points taken from the name Adonai (Lord) were added later.
in time Avith his wife and children into Eg}pt. ' The story ia somewhat different in the Talmudio tract Calla, as already

related.
' Joh. Jac. Huldricus : Historia Jcschuie Nazareni, a Jodxis blasphpme
corrajita; Leyden, 1705.
' From Mizraim, Egypt.
104 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS.
THE SECOND TOLEDOTII JESCHU. 105
head with the water Boleth, so that the hair might not grow
the King ordered that Jahannus should be executed with the
again."
sword. The servants of the King therefore went at his com-
Ashamed at this humiliation, according to the Tole- mand and slow Jahannus, and hung up his head at the gate
of Jerusalem.'
doth Jeschu of Huldrich, the boy returned to Nazareth,
" About this time Jeschu assembled the inhabitants of
where he wounded his mother's breast.
Probably the author of this counter-Gospel saw one
Jerusalem about him, and wrought many miracles. He laid
a millstone on the sea, and sailed about on it, and cried, I am
of those common artistic representations of the Mater
God, the Son of God, bom of my mother by the power of
Dolorosa with a sword piercing her soul, and invented
the Holy Ghost, and I sprang from her virginal brow.
the story of Jesus wounding his mother's breast to " And ho wrought many miracles, so that all the inhabi-
account for it.
tants ofAi behoved in liini, and liis miracles he wrought by
When Jeschu was grown up, there assembled about means of the incommunicable Name.
him many disciples, whose names were Simon and " Then Jeschu ordered the law to be done away with, for
^latthias, Elikus, Mardochai and Thoda, whose names it is said in the Psalm, It is time for thee, Lord, to lay too
Jeschu changed. thine hand, for they have destroyed thy law. Now, said he,
is the right time come to tear up the law, for the thousandth
" lie called Simon Peter, after the word Petrus, which in He
generation has come since David said, hath promised to
Hebrew signifies the First. And Mattliias ho called Jlatthew; keep his word to a thousand generations (Ps. cviii. 8).
and Elikus he called Luke, because he sent liim forth among " Therefore they arose and desecrated the Sabbath.
the heathen; and Mardochai he named Mark, because he " When now the elders and wise men heard of what was
said, Vain men come to me; and Thoda ho named Pahul done, they came to the King and consulted him and his
(Pau^, because he bore witness of him. coimcil. Then answered Judas, son of Zachar,^ I am the first
" Another worthless fellow also joined them, named Jo- of the King's princes ; I will go myself and see if it be true
chanan, and ho changed his name Jahannus on account of
to what is said, that this man blasphemeth.
the miracles Jeschu wrought through him by means of the " Therefore Juda.3 went and put on other clothes like the
incommunicable Name. This Jahaimus advised that aU the men of Ai, and spake to Jeschu and said, I also will leam
men who were together should have their heads washed with your doctrine. Then Jeschu had his head shaved in a ring
the water Boleth, that the hair might not grow on them, and and washed with the water Boleth.
all the world might know that they were Nazaren&s. " After that they went into the wilderness, for they feared
" But the affair was known to the elders and to the King. the King lest he should take them if they tarried at Ai.
Then be sent his messengers to take Jeschu and his disciples, And they lost their way ; and in the wilderness they hghted
and to bring them to Jerusalem. But out of fear of the people, on a shepherd who lay on the ground. Then Jeschu asked
they gave timely warning to Jeschu that the King sought to
Therefore they fled ' Evidently the aathor confonnds John the Baptist with John the
take and kill him and his companions.
Apostle.
into the desert of Ai (Capemaiun 1). And when the servants
* Judas Iscarioth. In St. John's Qospel he is called the son of Simon
of the King came and foimd them not, with the exception of The
(vi. 71, xiii. 2, 26). Son ot Zachar is a corruption of Iscarioth.
Jahannus, they took bun and led him before the Iting. And name Iscarioth is probably from Eerioth, his native village, in Jndah.

f3
1C8 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE SECOND TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 109

to Jesus, our Lord, that he come with his disciples, and I kill and make alive ; I bring down to hell, and raise up
we will protect him ; and see ! the host, Jager Purah, is therefrom again.'
brother of Karkamus, ruler of Ai, and an uncle of thy be- " But Judas betook himself secretly to the King, and told
trothed. him how that Jeschu and his disciples were in the house of
" Now when Jescliu heard the words of Judas, he believed Purah. Therefore the King sent young priests into the
them ; and their neighbours
for the inhabitants of Jerusalem house of Purah, who said unto Jeschu, We are ignorant
fasted incessantly during the six days between the feast of men, and believe in thee and thy word; but do this, we
the New Year and the Day of Atonement, yea, even on the — pray thee, work a miracle before our eyes.
Sabbath Day did some of them fast. And when those men " Then Jeschu wrought before them wonders by means of
who were not in the secret asked wherefore they fasted at the incommunicable Name.
this when it was not customary to fast save on
imusual time, " And on the great Day of Atonement he and his disciples
the DayAtonement, the elders answered them, This is
of ateand drank, and fasted not ; and they drank of the wine
done because the King of the Gentiles has sent and threat- wherewith was mingled the Water of Forgetfulness, and then
ened us with war. betook themselves to rest.
" But Jeschu and his disciples dressed themselves in the " And when midnight was now come, behold ! servants of
costume of the men of Ai, that they might not be recognized the King surrounded the them Purah opened
house, and to
in Jerusalem; and in the fast, on the Day of Atonement, the door. And the servants broke into the room where Jeschu
Jeschu came with his disciples to Jerusalem, and entered into and his disciples were, and they cast them into chains.
the house of Purah, and said, Of me it is written, Who is " Then Jeschu directed his mind to the incommunicable
tins that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Name ; but he could not recall it, for all had vanished from
Bozraht I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. I his recollection.
have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there "And the servants of the King led Jeschu and his dis-
was none with me.* For now am I come from Edom to the ciples to the prison of the blasphemers. And in the morning
house of Purah, and of thee, Purah, was it written, Jegar they told the King that Jeschu and his disciples were taken
Sahadutha For thou shalt be to us a hill of witness and
!* and cast into prison. Then he ordered that they should be
assured protection. But I have come here to Jerusalem to detained till the Feast of Tabernacles.
abolish the festivals and the holy seasons and the appointed " And on that feast all the people of the Lord came toge-
holy days. And have his
he that believeth in me shall ther to the feast, as Moses had commanded them. Then the
portion in eternal life. in Jeru
I will give forth a new law King ordered that Jeschu's disciples should be stoned outside
salem, for of me was it written. Out of Zion shall the law the city ; and all the Israelites looked on, and heaped stones
go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' And on the disciples. And all Israel broke forth into hymns of
their sins and unrighteousness will I atone for with my blood. praise to the God of Israel, that these men of Belial had thus
But after I am dead I Avill arise to life again ; for it is written, fallen into their hands.
" But Jeschu was kept still in prison, for the King would
' Isa Ixiii. 1 — 3. Singnlarly enough, this passage ia chosen for the
not slay him till the men of Ai had seen that his words were
Epistle in the Roman and Anglican Churches for Monday in Holy Week,
naught, and what sort of a prophet he was proved to be.
with special reference to the Passion.
' Gen. xxxi. 47. ' Isa. ii. 3.
i ' 1 Sam. ii. 6.
110 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS.
THE SECOND TOLEDOTH JESCHU.
Ill
" Also ho wrote letters throughout the land to the councils
heaven, which had
of the synagogues to learn from them after what manner surrounded Jeschu, and he had
arisen
aave, and gone up into heaven. >
Jeschu should he put to death, and summoning all to assemble
" And the people of Ai believed
at Jerusalem on the next feast of the Passover to execute what was said, and swore
to avenge on the children
Jeschu, as written, Whosoever blasphemeth the name of
it is of Israel the crime they had
com-
the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congre-
nutted mhanging Jeschu. Now when
Judas saw that the
people of Ai threatened great
gation shall certainly stone him.^ things, he wrote a letter unto
" But the people of Girmajesa (Germany) and
them, saymg, There is no
all that peace to the ungodly, saith the
Lord therefore do the people
coimtry round, what day called Wormajesa (Worms)
is at this ; take counsel together, and the
Gentdes imagme a vain thing.
in the land of the Emperor, and the little council in the town Come to Jerusalem and see
your false prophet For, lo he is dead and buried in a conduit
of Wormajesa, answered the King in this wise. Let Jesus go, I
!

and slay him not Let him live till he die and perish.
Now when they heard this, the men of Ai
! went to Jeru-
salem^ and saw Jeschu lying
" But when the feast of the Passover drew nigh, it was where had been said. But
heralded through all the land of Judaea, that any one who
nevertheless, when they returned to Ai, they said that aU
Judas had written was false.
had aught to say in favour, and for the exculpation, of Jeschu, For, lo ! said they, when we
came to Jerusalem we found that aU
should declare it before the King. But all the people with believed in Jeschu, and
had risen and had expeUed the King
one consent declared that Jeschu must die.^ out of the city because he
behoved not; and many of the elders '

" Therefore, on the eve of the Passover, Jeschu was brought have they slain. Then
the men of Ai beUeved these
out of the prison, and they cried before him. So may all thine words of the messengers; and
they proclamied war against Israel
enemies perish, Lord And they hanged him on a tree
I

" Now when the King and the

outside of Jerusalem, as the King and elders of Jerusalem had eldeis saw that the men of
Aj were about to encamp against them,
commanded. and that the numbers
of these worthless men
" And all Israel looked on and praised and glorified God. grew-they were the brethren and
" Now when even was come, Judas took down the body of kinsmen of Jeschu-they took counsel
what they should do
Jeschu from the tree and laid it in his garden in a conduit.
m such sore straits as they were in.
" But when the people of Ai heard that Jeschu had been "And Judas said, Lo! Jeschu has an uncle Simon, son
of Kalpus, who is now
and he is an honourable old
himg, they became enemies to Israel. And the people of Ai alive,
man. Give him the incommunicable
attacked the Israelites, and slew of them two thousand men. Name, and let him
work wonders in Ai, and teU the people
And the Israelites could not go to the feasts because of the that he does them in
the name of Jesus. And they wUl believe Simon, because
men of Ai Therefore the King proclaimed war against Ai
he IS the uncle of Jeschu. But Simon must make them
but he could not overcome grew the multitude
it, for mightily
behove that Jeschu committed to
of those who believed in Jeschu, even under the eyes of the him aU power to teach them
not to ill-treat the Israelites, and
King in Jerusalem. he has reserved them for his
own vengeance.
" And some of thesewent to Ai, and declared that on the
" This counsel pleased the King
third day after Jeschu had been hung, fire had fallen from and the elders, and they
went to Simon and told him the matter.

' Ley. XHT. 16.
This is taken from Sanhedrim, foL 43. A > It is worth observing how
these two false witnesses disagree
every particular aboat our blessed
Lord's birth and passion.
in almost
112 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE SECOND TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 113

" Then went Simon, when he had learned the Name, and But they thought he said, 'Eben gillajon,' which means
drew nigh to Ai, and he raised a cloud and thunder and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He also wrote books in the
lightning. And he seated himself on the cloud, and as the names of the disciples of Jeschu, and especially in that of
thunder rolled he cried, Ye men of Ai, gather yourselves Johannes, and said that Jeschu had given him these.
together at the tower of Ai, and there will I give you com- " But with special purpose he composed the Book of
mandments from Jeschu. Johannes (the Apocalypse), for the men of Ai thought it con-
" But when the people of Ai heard this voice, they were tained mysteries, whereas it contained pure invention. For
sore afraid, and they assembled on all sides about the tower. instance, he wrote in the Book of Johannes that Johannes saw
And lo Simon was borne thither on the cloud ; and he
I a beast with seven heads and seven horns and seven crowns,
stepped upon the tower. And the men of Ai feU on their and the name of the beast was blasphemy, and the number of
faces before him.^ Then Simon said, I am Simon Ben the beast 666. Now the seven heads mean the seven letters
KalpuB, uncle of Jeschu. Jeschu came and sent me unto which compose in Hebrew the words, Jeschu of Nazareth.'
'

you to teach you his law, for Jesus is the Son of God. And And in like manner the number 666 is that which is the sum
lo I will give you the law of Jesus, which is a new com-
I
of the letters composiug this name. In like way did Simon
mandment. compose all the books to deceive the people, as the King and
" Then he wrought before them signs and wonders, and he the elders had bidden him.
said to the people of Ai, Swear to. me to obey all that I tell "And on the sixth day of the third month Simon sat on
you. And they swore to him. Then said Simon, Go to the cloud, and the people of Ai were gathered together Before
your own homes. And all the people of Ai returned to their him to the tower, and he gave them the book Avonkelajon,
dwellings. and said to them. When ye have children bom to you, ye
Now Simon sat on the tower, and wrote the command-
" must sprinkle them with water, in token that Jeschu was
ments even as the King and elders had decided. And he washed with the water Boleth, and ye must observe all the
changed the Alphabet, and gave the letters new names, as commandments that are written in the book Avonkelajon.
secretly to protest that aU he taught written in those letters And ye must wage no war against the people of Israel, for
was lies. And this was the Alphabet he wrote A, Be, Ce, :
Jeschu has reserved them to avenge himself on them himself.
De, E, Ef, Cha, I, Ka, El, Em, En, 0, Pe, Ku, Er, Es, Te, "Now when the people of Ai heard these words, they
U, Ix, Ejed, Zet. answered that they would keep them. And Simon returned
".And this is the interpretation My father is Esau, who :
on his cloud to Jerusalem. And all the people thought he
was a huntsman, and was weary ; and lo his sons believed !
had gone up in a cloud to heaven to bring destruction on the
Israelites.^
in Jesus, who lives, as God.
" " Not long after Kin g Herod died, and was succeeded
this.
And Simon composed for the deception of the people of
Ai lying books, and he called them Avonkelajon (Evange- '
'
by kingdom of Israel. But when he had
his son in the

lium), which, being interpreted, is the End of Ungodliness. obtained the throne, he heard that the people of Ai had made

^ probably taken from the story of Simon Magna in the Psendo-

' The author probably saw representations of the Ascension and of the
This IB
Last Judgment, with Christ seated with the Books of Life and Death in his
LinoB. Simon flies from off a high tower. In the Apocryphal Book of
hand on a great white clond, and composed this story out of what he saw,
the Death of the Virgin, the apostles come to her death-bed riding on
associating the pictures with the floating popular legend of Simon Hogns.
cloadaitv At ia here Home, not Capernanm.
114 JEWISH ANTI-GOSPELS. THE SECOND TOLEDOTH JESCHU. 115

images in honour of Jesus and Mary, and lie wrote letteis to what he had done, and the King rejoiced greatly. And Simon
Ai and ordered their destruction otherwise he would make;
left not the court of the King till his death. And when he
war against them. died, all the Jews observed the day as a fast, and it was the
" Then the people of Ai sent asking help of the Emperor
9th of the month Teboth (January).
against the King of Israel. But the Emperor would not " But those who had gone to Ai at the word of Simon be-
assist them and war against Israel Therefore, when the lieved that Simon and those with him had gone up together
people of Ai saw that there was no help, they burned the into heaven on the cloud.
images and bound themselves before the sons of Israel. " And when men saw wliat Simon had taught the people
" And about this time Mirjam, the mother of Jeschu, died. of Ai in the name of Jesus, they followed them also, and they
Then the King ordered that she should be buried at the foot took them the daughters of Ai to wife, and sent letters into
of the tree on which Jeschu had himg ; and there he also the furthest islands with the book Avonkelajon, and under-
had the brothers and sisters of Jeschu hung up. And they took for themselves, and for their descendants, to hold to all
were hung, and a memorial stone was set up on the spot. the words of the book Avonkelajon.
" But the worthless men, their kinsmen, came and destroyed " Therefore they abohshed the Law, and chose the first day
the memorial stone, and set up another in its stead, on which of the week as the Sabbath, for that was the birthday of
they wrote the words, Lo tliis is a ladder set upon the
'
!
Jesus, and they ordained many other customs and bad feasts.
earth, whose head reaches to heaven, and the angels of God Therefore have they no part and lot in Israel They are
ascend and descend upon it, and the mother rejoices here in accursed in this world, and accursed in the world to come.
!'
her cliildren, Allelujah But the Lord bless his people Israel with peace.
"Now when the King heard
he destroyed the me-
this, "These are the words of the Eabbi Jochanan, son of

morial they had erected, and killed a hundred of the kindred Saccai, in Jerusalem."
of Jeschu.
" Life of Jeschu" is
" Then went Simon, son of Kalpus, to the King and said, That this second version of the
later than the first one, I think there can be little doubt.
Suffer me, and I will draw away these people from Jeru-
more full of absurdities than the first, it adopts
salem. And the King said, Be it so ;
go, and the Lord be It is
with thee Therefore Simon went secretly to these worth-
! German household tales, and exliibits an ignorance of
less men, and said to them. Let us go together to Ai, and history even more astounding than in the first Life. The
there shall ye see wonders which I will work. And some preachers of the " Evangelium" marry wives, and there
went to Ai, but others seated themselves beside Simon on is a burning of images of St. Mary
and our Lord. These
his cloud, and left Jerusalem with him. And on the way are perJiaps indications of its having been composed after
Simon cast down those who sat on the cloud with him upon the Reformation.
the earth, so that they died.^ Luther did not know anything of the life published
Simon returned to Jerusalem, he told the King
"And when laterby Huldrich. The only Toledoth Jeschu he was
acquainted with was that afterwards published by Wa-
* In the story of Simon the Sorcerer, it is at the prayer of Simon Peter
Perhaps the genseil.
that the Sorcerer falls whilst flying and breaks all his bones.
•nthor saw a pictnre of the Jadgment with saints on the clond with Jetni^
•nd the lost falling into the flames of hell.
 PART II.

THE LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.

Under this head are claseed all those Gospels whose tendency is

Judaizing, which sprang into existence in the Churches of Pal&stiiie

and Syria.

These niay be ranged in two sub-classes

a. Those akin to the Gospel of St. Matthew.
j3. Those related to the Gospel of St. Mark.

To the first class belong

1. The Gospel of the Twelve, or of the Hebrews.
2. The Gospel of the Clementines.

To the second class belong, probably

1. The Gospel of St. Peter.

2. The Gospel of the Egyptians.

^'
 PART II.

THE LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.

I.

THE GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS.

1. The Fragments extant.

EusEBros quotes Papias, Irenaeus and Origen, as autho-

rities for his statement that St. Matthew wrote his
Gospel first in Hebrew. -,

Papias, a contemporary of Polycarp, who was a disciple

of St. John, and who carefully collected all information
he could obtain concerning the apostles, declares that
" Matthew wrote his Gospel in the Hebrew dialect,* and

that every one translated it as he was able."^

Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, and therefore also
likely to have trustworthy information on this matter,
says, " Matthew among the Hebrews wrote a Gospel in
their own language, while Peter and Paul were preaching
the gospel at Eome, and founding the Church there." ^
In a fragment, also, of Irenseus, edited by Dr. Grabe,
it is said that " the Gospel according to Matthew was

written to the Jews, for they earnestly desired a Messiah

^ 'EPpatti StaXUrip. ' Engeb. Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. c. 39.

» Ilid. lib. T. c. 8. •
 GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS.
LOST PETKINE GOSPELS. 121
120
order to satisfy quoting the witness of the Old Testament, either
^T^^T^terity of David. M^tth^in in his
genealogy own person or in that of the Lord and Saviour,
letoHlus p'oint. began his G ospel with the does not
follow the authority of the Seventy translators,
but the
Hebrew Scriptures, from which he quotes these two
°^
Sn :
in a passage preserved
"
I have learned by
by Eusehius. has this
tradition concemmg the
passages. Out of Egypt have I caUed my Son.' and,
'

atatemeni 'Since he shall be called a Nazarene.'"'

tXel«.-^ch alone - -ceived^jt^tfit:^^^^^^
heaven, that the trst was
" That Gospel which is called the
And again:
Gospel of the Hebrews,
v^ fl,p nwch of God under
and which has lately been translated by me into Greek and
Matto. ouce a t^x-gatherer. afterwards
^tten by St
fc. the Latin, and was used frequently by Origen, relates,"
of Jesus Christ,
who P^bl^^^^^^ &c.^
r^^s/e composed in tbe He^^^^ Again " That Gospel which the Nazarenes and Ebionites
:

of
benefit oi the Jewish converts,
t make use of. and which I have lately translated
Commentary on St. John. into
Greek from the Hebrew, and which by many is called
W^e bin wis? ELw. who. according^ tradition.
behevers who the genuine Gospel of Matthew.''^ And once more:
^publishing his Gospel to the
Jl; " The Gospel of the Hebrews, which is written in the
foregoing testimonies
Syro-Chaldaic tongue, and in Hebrew characters, which
-"Z^^: trhi^^lcted the
day. seems have been un-
to
the Nazarenes make use of at this day, is also called the
suS
onla subject -Hch, in that
on ,

^^ ^^^^^^^ ^ ^^ ^ ^^U.
Gospel of the Apostles, or, as many think, is that of
Matthew, is in the library of Caesarea."*

„rMohed to the Hebrews,

deUveftd to *»">, ™°°, Epiphanius is even more explicit. He says that
St.

the Nazarenes possessed the most complete Gospel of

St. Matthew,^ as it was written at first in Hebrew ;« and
" they have it still in Hebrew characters
but I do not ;

know if they have cut ofi" the genealogies from Abraham

to Christ." "We may aflfirm as a certain fact, that
composed h^ Gospel ot on Matthew alone among the
^^^^^ New Testament
the circumcision
words and
who ^^^^^'f'
characters; J^''
^ ,^tei
^^

it
.^
afterwards wrote the history of the preaching of the Gospel in
Hebrew, and in Hebrew characters."^ This Hebrew
writers of the

^"'^
very evident.
J^^^^^
Now t^^ nebrew Gospel
f
into Greek is not C^s^ea w Gospel, he adds, was known to Cerinthus and Carpocrates.
inthe libr^y at
is preserved to tins day The subscriptions of many MSS. and versions bear

' SL Hieron. De vir. illnst, b. t. Matt.

* Ibid. s. T. Jacobus. • ilti. inMatt. xii. 13.
* Ibid. Contra. Pelag. iii. 1.

" 'ExowOT II (ol Valapaiot) rA xari MaBaiov liayykXtov TrXtipiararov

« Boseb. Hist. Bocl.

>• 26. iPpaitrri. — Hnr. zxix. 9.

» Spicileg. Patrom, Tom. I. * KaOwc iC dpxvt lypAfrt.—Ibid. ' Ibid. xii. 3.

» Ibid. iU. 24. G
122 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.
GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS.
123
the same testimony. Several important Greek codices
Matthew close with the statement that he ^vrote
of St.
b^a^of the Apostles were
inHebrew the Syriac and Arabic versions do the same.
; concerning the mart^rE^
The subscription of the Peschito version is, " Finished
It is probable
that tliig Hebrew Gospel
is the holy Gospel of the preaching of Matthew, wliich of thp T.. 7

he preached in Hebrew in the land of Palestine." That

of the Arabic version reads as follows " Here ends th^ :

copy of the Gospel of the apostle Matthew. He wrote

it in the land of Palestine, by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, in the Hebrew language, eight years after the
bodily ascension of Jesus the Messiah into heaven, and
in the year of the lloman Emperor, Claudius CsEsar."
first

The title of Gospel of the Hebrews was only given to

the version known to Jerome and Epiphanius, because "'' ^^'°'"^^^' «^«° «^e nar-
roweltof fhPi r^''
it was in use among the Hebrews. But amongst the
Nazarenes it was called " The Gospel of the Apostles,"*
or "The Gospel of the Twelve."^ St. Jerome expressly
says that " the Gospel used by the Nazarenes is also
called the Gospel of the Apostlfes."' That the same
Gospel should bear two names, one according to its re-
puted authors, the other according to the community
which used it, is not surprising.
same observance of believing
those who
imposed It
Gentiles; and the ^
not only observed the
Law tbemselTes but
on their Gentile converts
^
Justin Martyr probably alludes to it under a slightly were with the former.
H,W™
Vk
\vhom he r4 ds ^
thTZe fo?
different name, "The Recollections of the Apostles."* lowers of the apostles,
and not with the ktter
He says that these Eecollections were a Gospel.^ He Justin 8 conversion
took place circ A.D 13^
adopted the word used by Xenophon for his recollections tt« ,-.

What the Memorabilia of Xenophon were

of Socrates. or j!-oiomteg m
the second century,
just when Gno^hV
v^ews^were .filt^ting among
•

•
EdayyiXiov cari roic iirotrrSXovc.
EbayyiXtov Kari rovj iuitna. Origen calls it " The Gospel of the
thf e^xtreme l^Sg^
Twelve Apostles, " Homil. i. in Lnc. St. Jerome the same, in his Prooem. Justin Martyr's Christian
training took place in th.
in Comment, sop. Matt. Nazarene Church, in the
orthodox, Wilder sect
• Adr. Pelag. iii. 10. * 'Ajro/jvij/iojxfi/iaro
'
tuv Aitovt&Xwv. on Hp
• "'Ev roTc yiyoftlvoic W airiiv irofivtiliovtviiaaiv, a caXctrai
^tr hett'
Paul, for he neither
''' *-^^-^^ P-J"dice"tinst
t
ElayyiXta." And " tv ry Xtyoitlvtf EiayyiXlv," when speaking of these mentions him by name, nor
any of his writmgs. That quotes
Reminiscences, Dialog, com Tiyphon. § 11. Just. Mart. Opera, ed. Cologne<,
p. 227.
'
he
' 1 Apol.
should have omit^^d
ii.
t
G 2
 124 LOST PETRINE QOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS.
125

quote St. Paul in hia Dialogue with Trypho the Jew is Five or six times does he say that
the Magi came from
not surprising ; but one cannot doubt that had he seen Arabia;' St. Matthew says only
that they came from
the Epistles of the Apostle of the Gentiles, he would the East*
have cited them, or shown that they had influenced the He says that our Lord was born in a cave' near
Bethle-
current of his thoughts in his two Apologies addressed hem; that, when he was baptized, a bright light shone
to Gentiles. He quotes "the book that is called the over him; and he gives words
which were heard from
Gospel" as if there were but one but what Gospel was
; heaven, which are not recorded
by any of the Evan-
it ? It has been frequently observed that the quotations gelists.

of Justin are closer to the parallel passages in St. Mat- That our Lord was born in a cave
is probable enouah
thew than to those of the other Canonical Gospels. But but where did Justin learn it ?
Certainly not from St
the only Gospel he names is the Gospel of the Twelve. Matthew's Gospel, which gives no
particulars of the birth
Did Justin Martyr possess the Gospel of St. Matthew, of Christ at Bethlehem. St
Luke says he wsa born in
or some other ? the stable of an inn. Justin,
we are wan-anted in sus-
It is observable that he diverges from the Gospel nar- pecting, derived the fact of the
stable being a cave from
rative in several particulars. It is inconceivable that the only Gospel with which
he was acquainted, that of
'
this was caused by defect of memory. Two or three the Hebrews.
of those texts in which he differs from our Canonical The tradition of
the scene of Christ's nativity
havina
Gospels occur several times in his writings, and always been a cave was peculiarly Jewish. It
is found in the
in the same form.^ Would it not be strange that his Apocryphal Gospels of the Nativity and
the Protevan-
memory should fail him each time, and on each of these gelium, both of which unquestionably
grew up in Judaa
passages ? But though his memory may have been in- That Justin should endorse this tradition
lead^ to the
accurate in recording exact words, the differences that conclusion that he found it so stated in
his Gospel
have been noticed between the citations of Justin Martyr I shall speak of the light and voice
at the baptism
presently.
and the Canonical Gospel of St. Matthew are not confined
to words they extend to particulars, to facts. Verbal St Epiphanius says that the Ebiomte
; Gospel began
differences are accotmtable for by lapse of memory, but with, "In the days of Herod, Caiaphas being the
high-
it is not so with facts. One can imderstand how in priest, therewas a man whose name was John," and
so
same on, like the 3rd chap. St Matthew.
quoting by memory the mode of expressing the But this was the
vary, but not that the facts themselves should
mutUated Gospel of the Hebrews used by the
facts may Gnostic
Ebwiutes, who were heretical on the
be different. If the facts cited are different, we are forced doctrme of the
to conclude that the citations were derived from another
n
source. And such is the case with Justin.
» 01 'Apapias Itiyot, or /tayoi
pp. 303, 316, 328, 330. 334, kc.
iwi 'Apa/3Jac.— Dialoe.
^ cum Tm,h ^
» Matt.
JoBtin Mart. 0pp. ed. Cologne ; 2 Apol. p. 64 ; Dialog, com Tiyph.
»
ii. 1.

p. 301 ; ibid. p. 263 ; 2 Apol. p. 64 ; Dial, cum

Tiyph. p. 326 ; 2 ApoL • 'Ev ffiri/XoiV "W irivtyyvs rijs tifins rarlXwfft.—Dialog, enin TttbIi.
•"^
pp. 803, 304.
pp. 95, 96.
 GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 127'
126 LOST PETMNE GOSPELS.

nativity of our Lord, and whom Justin Martyr

speaks version was made cannot be decided by scholars. A
birth of Clirist.' copy in the Laurentian Library bears so early a date as
of as rejecting the supernatural
A.p. 586 ; but it existed long before the translation was
Among the Nazarenes, orthodox and heretical, but one
made by Philoxenus in 508. The first Armenian version
Gospel was recognized, and that the Hebrew Gospel
of
use among the Gnostic from the Greek was made in 431, and the Armenians
the Twelve; but the Gospel in
they already, at that date, had a version from the Syriac,
Etionites became more and more corrupt as
made by Isaac, Patriarch of Armenia, some twenty years
diverged further from orthodoxy.
previously, in 410. Still further back, we find the Pes-
But the primitive Hebrew Gospel was held in high
"
" It is chito version quoted in the writings of St. Ephraem,
esteem by those Jews who received the faith."''

" that -the Nazarenes use who lived not later than A.D. 370.^
the Gospel," says St. Jerome,
" It is the Gospel of the Hebrews Was this Peschito ve rsion founded on the Greek
at the present day."'
canonical text, or, in the case of St. Matthew, on the
that the Nazarenes read," says Origen.* " Hebrew " Gospel ? I think there can be little question
Was this Gospel of the Twelve, or of the Hebrews, that was translated from the Greek. There can be no.
it
the original of St. Matthew's Canonical
Greek Gospel, or
be question that the Gospels of St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John,
was it a separate compilation ? This is a question to
the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of St. Paul, and
considered presently. _
thoSe of the other Epistles contained in this version,^
The statement of the Fathers that the Gospel
of St.
course are from the Greek, and it is probable that the version
Matthew was first written in Hebrew, must of
in Aramaic of Matthew was made at the same time from the
St.
be understood to mean that it was written received text The Syrian churches were separated from
or Palestinian Syriac.
the Nazarene community in sympathy their acdeptance
have extant two versions of the Gospels,
;

Now we of St. Paul's Epistles is a proof that they were so and

and the ;

St. Matthew's included, in Syriac. the Peschito

mention these Epistles were accepted by them at a very early age,
Philoxenian. The latter needs only a passing ;

But as we gather from internal evidence in the translation.

itwas avowedly made from the Greek, A.D. 508.
The title of The Syrian churches would be likely, moreover, when
the Peschito is much more
ancient.
that which seeking for copies of the Christian Scriptures, to ask for
« "
Peschitoan emphatic Syrian
is
term for
and, applied from
them from churches which were regarded as orthodox,
is"simple," "uncorrupt" and "true;"
rather than from a dwindling community which was
it strongly indicates the r
the beginning to this version, thought to be heretical.
it has ever been
veneration and confidence with which
East." When this
regarded by all the Churches of the qoissimii, eonstitntis in Syrii, Mesopotamift, Chaldae&, ^gypto, et deniqne
in nniTeisis Orientis partibus dispersie ac diEseminatis accepta ac lecta
' EoBeb. Hist. Eccl. iii. 25.
1 Dial, cnm Tryph. p. 291. fuit."—Walton : London Polyglott, 1657.

» Adr. Pelag. iii. 1. * Co""°- ^ ^'^- "" ^^

, > Li Matt. iiL 17 ; Lnke i. 71 ; John i. 3 ; Col. iii. 5.
" De Sionito, quod nt '>7P«^«
. ren-ione SyriacA testatur """'"J * It omits the 2nd and 3rd Epistles of St. John, the Epistle of Jnde, and
venexatione et auctoritato habita erat apad omne. P-P-'""
^' ^""^ the Apocalypse.
in omnibuB eonun eccleBU. anti;
lii.gu4, sic public6
BiTe SyriacA ntantor
128 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 129

The Peschito version of St Matthew follows the because it contained doctrine at variance with the
canonical Greek text, and not the Gospel of the He- Canonical Greek Gospels, or because it narrated circum-
brews, in such passages as can be compared ;^ not one stances not found in them. On the contrary, they refer
of the peculiarities of the latter find their echo in the to it as a good, trustworthy authority for the facts of our
Peschito text. Lord's life, and for the doctrines he taught.
The Gospel of the Hebrews has not, therefore, been St. Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Smyrnians,^ has in-
preserved to iis in the Peschito St. Matthew. The trans- serted in it a passage relative to the appearance of our
lations made hj St. Jerome in Greek and Latin have Lord to his apostles after his resurrection, not found in
also perished. It is not difficult to account for the loss
J^e Canonical Gospels, and we should not know whence
of the book. The work itself was in use oidy by con- he had drawn it, had not St. Jerome noticed the fact and
verted Jews ; it was in the exclusive possession of the recorded it^
descendants of those parties for whose use it had been St. Clement of Alexandria speaks of the Gospel of
written. The Greek Gospels, on the other hand, spread the Hebrews in the same terms as he speaks of the
as Christianity grew. The Nazarenes themselves passed writings of St. Paul and the books of the Old Testa-
away, and their cherished Gospel soon ceased to be ment.' Origen, who makes some quotations from this
known among men. Gospel, does not, it is true, range it with the Canonical
Some exemplars may have been preserved for a time Gospels, but he speaks of it with great respect, as one
in public libraries, but these would not survive the highly esteemed by many Christians of his time.*
devastation to which the country was exposed from the In the fourth century, no agreement had been come to
Saracens and other invaders, and it is not probable that as to the value of this Gospel Eusebius tells us that
a solitary copy surAdves. by some it was reckoned among the Antilegomena, that
But if the entire Gospel of the Hebrews has not been is, among those books which floated between the Ca-

preserved to us, we have got sufficiently numerous frag- nonical and the Apocryphal Gospels.*
ments, cited by ancient ecclesiastical writers, to permit The Gospel of SL Matthew and the Gospel of the
us, to a certain extent, to judge of the tendencies and Hebrews were not identical It is impossible to doubt
character of that Gospel. this when we examine the passages of the latter quoted
necessary to observe, as preliminary to ova quo-
It is by ecclesiastical writers, the majority of which are not
tations, that the early Fathers cited passages from this to be found in the former, and the rest differ from the
Gospel without the smallest prejudice against it either Canonical Gospel, either in details or in the construc-
historically or doctrinally. They do not seem to have tion of the passages which correspond.
considered it apocryphal, as open to suspicion, either Did the difference extend further ? This is a ques-

• Ignat. Ad. Smym. c 3. * Catal. Script. EccL 15.

1 {n tbe food of the Baptist, in the narrative of the baptism, in the
As
» Clem. Alex. Strom, 9. * Hom. xv. in Jerem.
mention of Zacharias, son of Barachias, in place of Zacbarias, son of Jehoi- ii.

•da, the instmction to Peter on fraternal forgiveness, &o. It interprets ' Hist. Eccl. iii. 25. Some of those books of the New Testament now
the name Emmanuel. regarded as Canonical were also then reckoned among the Antilegomena.
Q 3
130 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 131

tioa it is impossible to answer positively in one way or words, " my mother," are, it can scarcely be doubted,
a
the other, since we only know those passages of the Gnostic interpolation, as probably are also the words,
Gospel of the Nazarenes which have been quoted by the " by one of my hairs ;" for on one of
the occasions on
early Fathers. which Origen quotes the passage, these words are omitted.
But it is probable that the two Gospels did not differ Probably they did not exist in all the copies of the
from each other except in these passages for if the ;
Gospel.
divergence was greater, one cannot understand how Our Lord was " led by the "
Spirit into the wilderness
St. Jerome, who had both under his eyes, coiUd have after his baptism.^ Philip was caught away by the
supposed one to have been the Hebrew original of the Spirit of the
Lord from the road between Jerusalem and
other. And if both resembled each other closely, it is Gaza, and was found at Azobus.^ The notion of trans-
easy to suppose that the ecclesiastical vn-iters who quoted portation by the Spirit was therefore not foreign to the
from the Nazarene Gospel, quoted only those passages authors of the Gospels.
which were peculiar to it. The Holy Spirit was represented by the Elkesaites as
Let us now examine the principal fragments of this a female principle.^ The Elkesaites were certainly one
Gospel that have been preserved. with the Ebionites in their hostility to St. Paul, whose
There are some twenty in aU, and of these only two Epistles, as Origen tells us, they rejected.* And that
are in opposition to the general tone of the first Canoni- they were a Jewish sect which had relations with Ebion-
cal Gospel. itism appears from a story told by St. Epiplianius, tliat

With one of these I shall begin the series of extracts. their supposed founder, ELxai, went over to the Ebion-
"And straitway," said Jesus, "the Holy Spirit [my ites in the time of Trajan.^ They issued from the same
mother] took me, and bore nu away to the great mountain fruitful field of converts, the Essenes.

called Tlmhor."
^ The term by which the Holy Spirit is designated in
Origen twice quotes this passage, once in a fuller Hebrew is feminine, and lent itself to a theory of the
form. " (She) hore me by one of my Juiirs to the great Holy Spirit being a female principle, and this rapidly
slid into identification of the Spirit with Mary.
vunmtain called Thabor." The passage is also quoted
by St. Jerome.^ Origen iand Jerome take pains to give The 'Clementines insist on the universe being com-
this passage an orthodox and unexceptionable meaning. pounded of the male and the female elements. There
are two sorts of prophecy, the male which speaks of the
Instead of rejecting the passage as apocryphal, they
—
labour to explain it away a proof of the high estima-
world to come, the female which deals with the world
that LS ; the female principle rules this world, the body,
tion in which the Gospel of the Twelve was held. The
> Matt. It. 1. ' Act3 Tiii. 39.
' 'Apn fXajSc /ie ij lih^np t^o" ri &yiov wviviia, iv fu^ ruv rpixuv
/JO?, caJ ivT/vtyKt fik tie to opoc rb /itya GajSwp. —Origen Horn. it. in
:
' Tijv it OriXttav KaKilaOai aytov irvivfia. — Hippoljt. Refut. ix. 13,

Jerem., imd in Joban.

ed. Danker, p. 462. Bo also St. Epiphanius, tlvai Si icaJ t6 nvivfia

* " Modo tnlit me mater mea Spirltna SanctoB in nno capillornm

OqXttav. — Eseres. xix. 4, liii. 1.

meoram." —Hieron. in Mich. rii. 6.

* Ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. vi. 38. ' Hteres. xii. 1, xxx. 17.
132 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS, 133

all that is visible and material. Beside this female prin- from the Theaetetus of Plato: "He who wondereth shall
ciple stands Christ, the male principle, ruling the spirits reign, and he who reigneth sivall rest."^

of men, and all that and immaterial^ The

is invisible This, like the preceding quotation, has a Gnostic hue ;

Holy Spirit, brooding over the deep and calling the world but it is impossible to determine its sense in the absence
into being, became therefore the female principle in the of the context. Nor does the passage in the Theaetetus
Elkesaite Trinity. throw any light upon it. The whole of the passage in
In Gnosticism, this deification of the female principle, St. Clement is this " The beginning of (or search after)
:

which was represented as Proumkos or Sophia among truth is admiration," says Plato. "And Matthias, in
the Valentinians, led to the incarnation of the principle saying to us in his Traditions, Wonder at what is before
in women who accompanied the heresiarchs Simon and you, proves that admiration is the iirst step leading up-
Apelles. Thus the Eternal Wisdom was incarnate in wards to knowledge. Therefore also it is written in the
Helena, who accompanied Dositheus and afterwards Gospel of the Hebrews, He who shall wonder shall reign,
Simon Magus,^ and in the fair Philoumena who asso- and he who reigns shaU rest."
ciated with Apelles. What were these Traditions of Matthias ? In another
The same influence seems imperceptibly to have been place St. Clement of Alexandria mentions them, and
at work in the Church of the Middle Ages, and in the quotes a passage from them, an instruction of St. Mat-
pictures and sculptures of the coronation of the Virgin. thias " If he who is neighbour to one of the elect sins,
:

Mary seems in Catholic art to have assumed a position the elect sins with him ; for if he (the elect) had con-
as one of the Trinity. ducted himself as the Word requires, then his neighbour
In the original Gospel of the Hebrews, the passage would have looked to his ways, and not have sinned."^
probably stood thus :
" And straightway the Holy Spirit And, again, he says that the followers of Carpocrates
took me, and bore me mountain Thabor
to the great
;"
appealed to the authority of St. Matthias probably, —
and Origen and Jerome quoted from a text corrupted by therefore, to this book, his Traditions as an excuse for —
the Gnostic Ebionites. The words "bore me by one of giving rein to their lusts.
my hairs" were added to assimilate the translation to These Traditions of St. Matthias evidently contained
that of Habbacuc by the angel, in the apocryphal addi- another version of the same passage, or perhaps a portion
Book of Daniel.
tion to the same discourse attributed to our Lord, which ran
of the

We next come to a passage found in the Stromata of somehow thus " Wonder at what is before your eyes
:

Clement of Alexandria, who compares it with a sentence

• 'O Bavfidaac pamXivati, ytypiiTTai, xal b PaaiXtvaac ivawaiatTat.
Clem. Alex. Stromata, i. 9.
> Homilies, iiL 20—27.
• In the " Refutation by the Chevalier Bnnsen
* Strom, This was exaggerated in the doctrine of the Albi-
lib. rii.
of Heresies" ftttribnted
Simonian Qnosticism to gensea in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The "Perfects," the min-
and others to St Hippolytus, Helena is said in
isters of the sect, "reconciled" the converted. But if one of the Perfect
hare been the "lost sheep" of the Oospehi, the incarnation of the world
meat or married), whom he had reconciled with him
—
principle foand, recoreredj redeemed, by Simon, the incarnation of the
sinned (t.e. ate all

from grace, even those who were dead and in heaven.

fell

divine male principle.

134 LOST PETBINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 135

(i.e. the mighty works that I do); for he that wondereth Another passage is not given to us verbatim by St,
shall reign, and he that reigneth shall rest." Jerome he merely alludes to it in one of his Commen-
;

It is not impossible that this
niscence of part of our Lord's teaching.
Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew,
says that Jesus exercised the trade of a carpenter, and
that he made carts, yokes, and like articles.^
may be a genuine remi- taries, saying that Jesus had declared him guilty of a
grievous crime who saddened the spirit of his brother.^ It
probably occurred in the portion of the Gospel of the
Hebrews corresponding with the 18th chapter of St. Mat-
thew, and may be restored somewhat as follows " Woe :

Where did he learn this ? Not from St. Matthew's unto the world because of offences for it must needs !

Gospel ; probably from the lost Gospel which he quotes. be that offences come hut woe to that man by whom the
;

St, Jerome quotes as a saying of our Lord, "Be ye offence cometh, and the soul of his brother be made sore.
proved money-changers."^ He has no hesitation in calling Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee," &c.
it a saying of the Saviour. It occurs again in the Cle- Another passage is in perfect harmony with the teach-
mentine Homilies' and in the Recognitions.* It is ing of our Lord, and, like that given last, may very
cited much more fully by St. Clement of Alexandria in possibly have formed part of his teaching. It is also
his Stromata "Be ye proved money-changers ; retain that
: given by Jerome, and therefore in Latin " B6 never
St. :

which is good metal, reject that which is had."^ Neither glad unless ye are in charity with your brother!"^
St. Jerome, St. Clement of Alexandria, nor the author St. Jerome, in his treatise against Pelagius, quotes
of the Clementines, give their authority for the statement from the Gospel of the Hebrews the following passage
they make, that this is a saying of the Lord; but we "If thy hrotlier Ims sinned in word against tJiee, and has
may, I think, fairly conclude that St. Jerome drew it m/ide satisfaction, forgive him unto seven times a day.
from the Hebrew Gospel he knew so well, having trans- Simon, his disciple, said unto him. Until seicen times!
lated it into Greek and Latin, and which he looked upon Tlie Lord answered, saying. Verily I say unto tliee, until
as an unexceptionable authority. seventy times seven;" and then probably, "for I say
"Whence the passage came may be guessed by tlie use unto tlvee. Be never glad till thou art in charity with thy
made of it by those who quote it. It probably followed hrotlier!'^

our Lord's saying, " I am not come to destroy the Law, The Gospel of the Nazarenes supplied Retails not
but to fulfil it" " Nevertheless, be ye proved exchangers found in that of St. Matthew. It related of the man
retain that which is good metal, reject that which ia with the withered hand, healed by our Lord,* that he
bad." ' '
' Inter maxima ponitar crimina qai fratris sui spiritnm eontristayerit.

St. Hieron. Comm. in Ezech. xvi. 7.

' Dial, cum Tryph. § 88. • " Nunqnam laeli sitia nisi com fratrem vestrnm Tideritis in charitate."
* "Sicat illDdapostoIilibenterandire : Omnia probate ; qnodbonaraest ' " Si peccaverit frater tuns in verbo, et satis tibi tecerit, septies in die
teDete ; et Salratoris verba dicentis Esto probati nommalarii."
: Epist. — sascipe eum. Dixit illi Simon discipnlus ejus Septies in die ! Respondit
:

ad Minerriam et Alexandrum. Dominns et dixit ei Etiam ego dico tibi, nsqae septoagies septies." Adv.
: —
* Homil. ii. 61, iii. 50, zriii 20. TlviaQi rpairtllral ioKtfioi. Pelag. i. 3.
* Recog. ii. 51. ' Stromat. i. 28. * Matt. xiTii. 16.
136 LOST PETUINE GOSPELS. OOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 137

was a maaon,^ and gave the words of the appeal made to him not
ciently differently related for to recognize them
Jesus by the man invoking his compassion " I was a :
as the same, or that the incident in St. John's Gospel is
niason, working for my bread with my hands. I pray an excerpt from the Gospel of the Hebrews, or rather
thee, Jesus, restore me to soundness, that I eat not jny bread from a translation of it, grafted into the text of the
in disgrace."^ The
Canonical Gospel latter opinion is favoured by
what is found in St. Mark and St. Luke,
It relates, some critics, who think that the .story of the woman
but not in St. Matthew, that Barabbas was cast into taken in adultery did not belong to the original text,
prison for sedition and murder ;^ and it gives the inter- but was inserted in it in the fourth or fifth century.
pretation of the name, " Son of a Eabbi."* These parti- Those passages of the Gospel of the Nazarenes which
culars may be correct there is no reason to doubt them.
;
most resemble passages in the Gospel of St. Matthew
The interpretation of the name may be only a gloss which are not, however, identical with them some differ only ;

found its way into the text. in the wording, but others by the form in which they
Eusebius says that Papias " gives a history of a woman are given.
who had been accused of many sins before the Lord, And them is, that
the remarkable peculiarity about
which is also contained in the Gospel according to the the lessons in the Gospel of the Hebrews seem preferable
Hebrews."* Of this we know nothing further, for the to those in the Canonical GrospeL TMs was apparently
text is not quoted by any ancient \vriters ; but probably the opinion of St. Jerome.
it was the same story as that of the woman taken in In chap, vi Matthew's Gospel, we have
ver. 11 of St.
adultery related in St. John's Gospel.' But then, why the article of the Lord's Prayer, " Give us this day our
did not Eusebius say that Papias gave " the history of daily bread." The words used in the Greek of St. Mat-
the woman accused of adidtery, which is also related in thew The Word eTriowios
are, tov aprov fiiimv tov cttiowiov.
the Gospel of St. John" ? Why does he speak of that is one met with nowhere and is peculiar. The
else,
story as being found in a Gospel written in the Syro- word owri'o means originally that which is essential, and
Chaldsean tongue, with which he himself was unac- belongs to the true nature or property of things. In
quainted,^ when the same story was in the well-known Stoic philosophy it had the same significance as vX.ij,
Canonical Greek Gospel of St. John ? The conclusion matter liriova-iov aprov would therefore seem most justly
;

one must arrive at is, either that the stories were suffi- to be rendered by supersubstantial, the word employed
' " Homo isto qui aridam babet mannm in Erangelio qao otnntor by St. Jerome.
Nazanei aementariaB scribitur." —Hieron. Comm. in Matt. zii. 13. " Give us this day our supernatural bread." But in
* " Homo iste . . . scribitur istiaB modi anxilinm precans, Giementarias the Gospel of the Nazarenes, according to St. Jerome,
eram, manibos victiim qateritans precor t«, Jesn, at mihi restitoas sani-
;
the Syro-Chaldaic word for en-towioi/ was iriD, which
tatem, ne tnrpiter mandacem cibos." Tbid.
signifies " to-morrow's/ that is, our " future," or " daUy"
* Ibid. xxTiL 16.
bread. " Give
us this day the bread for the morrow"^ cer-
* •• Filios Magistri eonim interpretatn*." Ibid.

» Hist. EccL iiL 39. • Tui. 3—11. tainly was synonymous with, " Give us this day our
' He probably knew it through a translation. ' Comm. in Matt. i. 6.
138 LOST PETRINB GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 139

daily bread." It is curious that the Protestant Reformers, In both these last quoted passages, the preference is
shrinking from translating the word iiriowriov according to be given to the Nazarene Gospel, and probably also
to its apparently legitimate rendering, lest they shoidd in that relating to forgiveness of a brother. The lost
give colour to the Catholic idea of the daily bread of Gospel in that passage requires the brother to make
the Cliristian soul being the Eucharist, should have satisfaction. It is no doubt the higher course to forgive
adopted a rendering more in accordance ^ith an Apo- a brother, whether he repent or not, seventy times seven
crjrphal than with a Canoi^cal Gospel times in the day but it may almost certainly be con-
;

In St. Matthew, xxiii. 35, Jesus reproaches the Jews cluded that our Lord meant that the forgiveness shoidd be
for their treatment of the prophets, and declares them conditional on his repentance, for in St. Luke's Gospel
responsible for all the blood shed upon the earth, " from the repentance of the trespassing brother is distinctly

the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, required. " If
thy brother trespass against thee, rebulce
son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the Temple and him and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass
;

the altar." against thee seven times a day, and seven times in a
Now the Zacharias to whom our Lord referred was day turn again to thee, saying, I repent thou shalt for- ;

Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, and not of Barachias, who give him." ^ In St. Luke this is addressed to all the
was stoned " in the court of the house of the Lord "by disciples; in St. Matthew, to Peter alone; but there
order of Joash.^ Zacharias, son of Barachias, was not can be little doubt that both passages refer to the same
killed till long after the death of our Lord.. He was instruction, and that the fuller accounts, in St. Luke and
massacred by the zealots inside the Temple, shortly the Gospel of the Hebrews are the more correct. There
before the siege, t.e. about A.D. 69. may be less elevation in the precept, subject to the two
Either, then, the Greek Gospel of St Matthew was restrictions, first, that the ofience should be* a verbal

not written till after the siege of Jerusalem, and so this one, and secondly, that it should be apologized for but ;

anachronism passed into it, or the error is due to a it it more within compass of being practised.
brings
copyist, who, having heard of the murder of Zacharias, We come next to a much longer fragment, which shall
son of Barachias, but who knew notliing of the Zacharias be placed parallel with the passage with which it cor-
mentioned in Chronicles, corrected the Jehoiada of the responds in St. Matthew.
original into Barachias, thinking that thereby he was
THB GOSPEL OP THE HEBREWS. ST. MATTHEW xix. 16 24.
rectifying a mistake.
Now in the Gospel of _theNazarenes the name stood
" Another rich man said "And, behold, one came
unto him : Master, what good and said unto him, Good
correctly, and the passage read, "from the Hood of
tjiing shall I may
I do that Master, what good thing shall
righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, the son of
live ? He said unto him : I do, that I may have eternal
Jehoiada." ^
man, fulfil the Laws and the Ufe?
> 2 Cbron. xxir. 20. Prophets. And he answered "And he said unto him,
* " In Brangelia qao ntantar Nazareni, pro-filio Barochis, filiam Jojada
reperimns Bcriptnni." —Hieron. in Matt, xxiii, 35.
' Lake xvii. 3, 4.
140 LOST PETHINE GOSPELS.
GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS, 141
him, I have done so. llien Why callest thou me goodi
" Then said Jesus unto his
said he unto him, Go, sell all there is none good but one,
tliat thou hast, and give to the disciples. Verily I say unto
that is, God but : if thou wilt
poor, and come, follow me. enter into life, keep the com-
you, That a rich man shall

" Then the rich hardly enter into the kingdom

man began .mandments.
of heaven.
to smite his head, and it "He saithunto him.WhichI
pleased him And "And again I say unto
not. the Jesus said, Thou shalt do no
you, It is easier for a camel
Lord said unto him. How murder, Thou shalt not com-
to go through the eye of a
sayest thou, I have fulfilled mit adultery. Thou shalt not
the Law ,and the Prophets, steal, Thou shalt not bear
needle, than for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of
when it is written in the Law, false witness,
God."
Thou shalt love thy neighbour " Honour thy father and
as thyself; and lo I many of thy mother and, Thou shalt
:
The comparison two accounts is not favour-
of these
thy brethren, sons of Abrch love thy neighbour aa thyself.
able to that in the Canonical Gospel It is difficult to
ham, are covered with filth, " The young man saith un-
understand how a Jew could have asked, as did the rich
and dying of hunger, and to him, All these things have
!

young man, what commandments he ought to keep in

thy house is full of many good I kept from my youth up
order that he might enter into life. The Decalogue was
things,and nothing therefrom what lack I yet 1
goeth forth at any time unto
known by heart by every Jew. Moreover, the narrative
"Jesus said imto him. If
them. in the lost Gospel is more connected than in the
thou wilt be perfect, go and
"And turning himself about, sell that thou hast, and give
Canonical Gospel. The reproach made by our Lord is
he said unto Simon, his dis- to the poor, and thou shalt admirably calculated to bring home to the rich man's
ciple, sitting near him, Simon, have treasure in heaven and :
conscience the truth, that, though professing bo observe
son of Jonas, it is easier for come and follow me. the letter of the Law, he was far from practising its
a camel to go through the eye " But when the young man spirit ; and this leads up quite naturally to the declara-
of a needle, than for a rich heard that saying, he went tion of the difficulty of a rich man obtaining salvation,
man to enter into the kingdom away sorrowful: for he had or rather to our Lord's repeating a proverb probably
of heaven."^ great possessions. common at the time in the East.^
' " Dixit ad eam alter diritam : Magister, qnid bonam faciena TiTam f
And lastly, in the proverb addressed aside to Peter,
Dixit ei : Homo, leges et prophetaa fac. Eespondit ad earn : Feci. instead of to the rich young man, that air of harshness
Dixit ei : Yade, rende omnia qnse possides et divide panperibns, et Teni, which our Lord's words bear in the Canonical Gospel,
Bequere me. antem dives scalpere oapnt saum et noo placnit ei.
Csepit
as spoken to the young man in his sorrow, entirely dis-
Bt dixit ad earn Dominna Quomodo dicis Legem feci et prophetas,
: :

qooniam scriptam est in lege Diliga proximnm tnam sicat teipsum, et

:
in regnnm oelorara."— Origen, Tract, viii. in Matt. xix. 19. The Greek
ecce molti fntres tui filii Abtahea amicti sant stercore, morientes prte fame,
text has been lost.
et domns toa plena est mnltis bonis et non egreditor omnino aliqnid ex ea
> It is found in the Talmud, Beracoth, foL 65, 6; Baba Metsia, fol.
ad eoa. Bt oonvenos dixit Simoni discipalo sno ledenti apnd se Simon :

38, h; and it occore in the Koran, Sura vii. 38.

fill Joanna, faeilins est camelam intrare per foramen acos qoam divitem
 LOST PETRINB GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 143
142

appears. The proverb not in stern rebuke,

ia uttered,
rest upon For thou art my rest, thou art my
thee. first-

of sad disappointment, -when the begotten Son, who shalt reign througlwut eternity."^
but as the expression
lich man has retired.
But this is not the only version we have of the nar-
rative in the Gospel of the Hebrews. Epiphanius
Another fragment from the Gospel of the Hebrews St.
gives us another, which shaU be placed parallel with
relates to the baptism of our Lord.
Matthew gives no_explanation of the corresponding account in St. Matthew.
The Gospel of St.
the occasion, the motive, of Jesus coming to Jordaii to GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. ST. MATTHEW iiL 13 17.
the baptism of John. It says simply, " Then cometh
" Jim people having been " Then cometh Jesus from
Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized
baptized, Jesuscame also, and Galilee to Jordan tmto John,
of him." ^ But the Nazarene Gospel is more explicit.
" Behold, his motJier and his h-ethren said unto Mm, was baptized by John. And to be baptized of him.
as he came out of the water, " But John forbad Tiim,
John the Baptist iaptizeth for the remission of sins ; let
the heavens opened, and he saying, I have
need to be
us go and be baptized of him. But he said unto them.
saw the Holy Spirit of God baptized of thee, and cometh
What sin have I committed, that I should be baptized of descending under the form of thou to me ?
him, unless it be that in saying this I am in igmrranceV'^ a dove, and entering into him. " And Jesus answering,
This is a very singular passage. We
do not know
And a voice was heard from said imto him, SuflFer it to be

the context, but we may presume that our Lord yields heaven. Thou art my beloved BO now : for thus it becometh
to the persuasion of his mother. Such is the tradition Son, and in thee am I well us to fulfil all righteousness.
"
preserved in another apocryphal work, the Preaching pleased. And again, Tliis Then he sufiered him.

of St Paul," issuing from an entirely different source, day have I begotten thee. And " And Jesus,when he was
from a school hostile to the Nazarenes.' suddenly there shone a great baptized, went up straightway
Another fragment continues the account after a gap. light in that place. And John out of the water ; and, lo, the

when the Lord went up out of the vMer, tlie wJwle

"And seeing it, said, Wlw art thou. heavens were opened unto
rested upon Lord? Then a was him, and he saw the Spirit of
fountain of the Holy Spirit descended and
voice

thee in all heard from heaven, Tliis is God descending like a dove,
him, and said unto him. My Son, I looked for
and tluU I migJU my beloved Son, in whom I and lighting upon Him :

the prophets, that thou migUest come,

am well pleased. Tliereat "And lo a voice from
» Matt. iiL 13. John fell at his feet and said, heaven, saying. This is my
mater
In ErangeUo jnxta Hebreos .... I pray thee. Lord, baptize me. beloved Son, in whom I am
« •' narrat historia Ecce,
:

dicebant Joannes Baptista baptizat in remw-

Domini et fratres ejoa ei,
But he would not, saying. well pleased."
ab ea Dixit antem eia ; quid
rionem peccatorum, eamus et baptixemnr
baptizer ab eo Nisi forte hoc ipsnm, qnod dm,
peccaTi, nt vadam et
?
' " Factnm est antem enm ascendisset Dominas de aqua, descendit fons
ignorantia est."—Cont. Pelag. iiL 2.
sna Man* bmnis 6piritas Sancti, et requieTit saper eam et dixit illi, Fili mi, in
» " Ad accipiendam Joannis baptisma p«ne invitum a Matre

the re-baptism of heretics, published omnibus prophetis expectabam te, nt Tenires et reqaiescerem in te. Tn
esse compnlBum."— In a treatise on
Cyprian. es enim reqnies mea, tn es filios mens primogenitos, qui regnas in sem-
by Biganlt at the end of his edition of St. pitemum." —In Mich. vii. 6.
144 LOST PBTSINE QOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS.
145
Suffer it, for so, it behoveth author IS speaking of the calling
of priests being mim-
that all should be accom- culous and manifest; and then
he cites this call of
plished."^
Christ to the priesthood as
answering these require-
ments. ^
That the Gospel stood as in this latter passage quoted
in the second century among the orthodox Christians The order of events is not the same
in the Gospel of
of Palestine is probable, because with it agrees the brief tlieTwelve and in that of St. Matthew:
verses 14 and
citation of Justin MartjT, who says that when our Lord 15 of the latter, modified in an important
was baptized, there shone a great light around, and a m the Ebionite Gospel after verses 16 and 17.point, come
voice was heard from heaven, saying, "Thou art my There is a serious discrepancy
between the account of
Son, this day have I begotten thea" Both occur in the the baptism of our Lord in St.
Matthew and in St. John
Ebionite Gospel ; neither in the Canonical Gospel* In the former Canonical Gospel, the
Baptist forbids
This Gospel was certainly known to the writer of the Christ to be baptized by him,
saying, " I have need to
Canonical Epistle to the Hebrews; for he twice takes be baptized of thee, and comest
thou to me?" But
this statement as authoritative. "For unto which of Jesus bids him: "Suffer it to be
so now, for thus it
the angels said he at any time. Thou art my Son, this becoraeth us to fulfil aU righteousness." Then Jesus is
day have I begotten thee?" and more remarkably, baptized, and the heavens are opened.
But in St. John's
" Christ glorified not himself to be made an high-priest Gospel, the Baptist says, "I knew him
not: but he that
but he that said unto him. Thou art my Son, to-day sent me to baptize with water, the
same said unto me
have I begotten thee."' In the latter passage the Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descendina
and
remaining upon him, the same is he wliich
' St. Epiph. Hseres. xxx. § 13. Tow \aoo pairna^ivrot, ^\0t tal
bapTizeth
with the Holy Ghost. And I saw,
'IifB-oCc cai ipairrlaBii vir6 rov 'Iwawov, Kal &( &vij\9tv Avb rov and bare record, that
CSaroCi ^volxriaav ol oipavol, ca) tlit t6 irvcv/ia rov Biov rA Sytov
this IS the Son of God."i
tlSit iv vcpiartpAc KartKBovarK Kai tl(rt\9o6atiQ ci'c airov. Xal fiavi^ Now the account in the Gospel of the Twelve
removes
iykvtTO ir Tov oiipavov, Xiyovaa' Su /Jow tl 6 (lyajr»;rif, !v irol
this discrepancy. John does not know Jesus till
tivSoKtiaa. KaJ irdXiV 'Eyw arifupov ytyivvtiKa at. Kai cu9Ac irtpik- after
the light and the descent of the dove
Xafiyf/e rbv tSitov ^iic 'O lib>v o'liadwricX'tyu airif- £v rfc (Ii
liiya. and the voice and
then he asks to be baptized by Jesus.
tipu ; Kai irdXiv fuivt^ l| otipavoC irpic abroV OJrof iariv 6 i/lof itov
6 iyairriTic, if' 3v tibioKtioa. Kai rori i 'Iwdwiic rpoantauv airip It is apparent that the passage in
the lost Gospel is
{XcvE* &'eoiiai ffoti, Kvpu, <rv fU Pdirriaov. 'O tl iKuKvtv aiiTip, XlyW more correct than that in the Canonical
one. In the
'Af tC. •" ovTUC iarl wpinov nXiipuBijvat ndvTa. latter there has been an inversion
of verses destroying
* I pat tbem in apposition :

the succession of events, and thus

Juttin. —
Kai irvp avrtfOi) tv Tip 'loptdvj. Dial, cnm Tryph. $ 88. producing discrepancy
Epiphan. Kai ivOvs vtpiiXaful/t rbv ro-irov fSiq fiiya. Hterei. — with the account in St. John's Gospel.
XXX. 8 13. With these passages from the Gospel of
Juttin. Tiof ftov il <TV lyit ofifupov ytyivvriKa at. — DiaL cum
may be compared a curious one from the
the Twelve
Tryph. § 88 and 103. Testament of
Epiphan. 'Eyw OTi/ifpov yiyiwtiKa at. — Hsres. xxi. § 13.
the Twelve Patriarchs. It occurs in the Testament of
» Heb. i. 6, t. 5. * John i. 29—34.
H
146 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.
GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS.
147
Levi, and is a prophecy of the Messiah. " The heavens
uig cited above
shall open for thee, and from above the temple of glory ^^oin\^^l^^^^^^~^^^^^~^
the voice of the Father shall dispense sanctification upon
dation by St Maiy and
him, as has been promised unto Abraham, the father of the brethren that they
go up should
to be baptized of
Isaac." John for the remission of sins
The passage quoted by
comes m the same chapter, and
there can be little doubt
Epiphanius is wholly un-
St.
that this reference to the
objectionable doctrinally. It is not so with that quoted prophets as sinful formed
pa
by St. Jerome ; it is of a very different character. It
exhibits strongly the Gnostic ideas which infected the
"^'"'""^ ^'' ""P^ "f ^^^ Gospel of the
stricter sect of the Ebionites.
Hptp-F-
Hebrews from Ber^a m Syria,
and
It was precisely on the baptism of the Lord that they not therefore from
laid the greatest stress ; and it is in the account of that eoirr, ""T- ''' .^^^ ^' ''^'^ ^'^d ^^-°«l^ted the
event that we
should expect to find the greatest diverg- '^'"'^ '' ^^"P'^""^ ^^ C^--.
instead of that T
n tead nfnl he procured from Bera^a,
ence between the texts employed by the orthodox and
the heretical Nazarenes.
nothing.
Before his baptism he was
was then only that the " full fount of the
It
:5 G::;tndt~ ''
it

-' ^ --^^
is

^^^ «s
probable

These interpolations were

Holy Ghost" descended on him, his election to the made in the second cen-
Messiahship was revealed, and divine power was com-
Ebionites, and break them up into more
municated to him to execute the mission entrusted to or less heretical

him. A marked distinction was drawn between two

portions in the life of Jesus —
before and after his bap- J}t''n^'f' tS"^
for the Gnostic
^"'P'^
Ebiomtes
"^ '^«
curtailed it in
Hebrews differed,
tism. In the first they acknowledged nothing but the some places
and amphfied it in others.
mere human nature, to the entire exclusion of every- In reconstructing the
primitive lost Gospel of
thing supernatural ; whUe the sudden accruing of super-
Nazarenes, it is very necessaiy
the
to note these Gnostic
natural aid at the baptism marked the moment when he passages, and to withdraw
Thus the baptism was the begin- them from the text We
became the Messiah. shall come to some more of their additions and altem-
ning of their Gospel. tions presently. It is sufficient for us to
Before that, he is liable to sin, he suggests that his note here that
the heretical Gospel in use
among the Gnostic
believing himself to be free from sin may have precipi- was based on the orthodox Ebionites
Gospel of the Hebrews The
tated him into sin, the sin of ignorance. And " even in
existence of these two versions
explains the very
the prophets, after they had received the unction of the ent treatment their Gospel
differ-
meets with at the hands
Holy Ghost, tlwre was found sinful speech." ^ This quo- the Fathe^ of the Church. of
Some, and these the earliest
tation follows, in St. Jerome, immediately after the say- speak of this Gospel with reverence,
and place it ahnosi
* "Etiam in proplietis qnoqae, pottqaam nncti Bant Spiritn Buieto, in- on a hue with the Canonical
Gospels; others speak of
ventus est sermo peccati." —Contr. Pelag. iii. 2.
H 2

;;!
148 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 149

it with horror, as an heretical corruption of the Gospel him, My brother, eat thy bread, for the Son of Man is
"^
of St. Matthew. The farmer saw the primitive text, the risen from among them that sleep.'

latter the curtailed and amplified version in use among This toucliing incident is quite in keeping with what
the heretical Ebionites. we know about St. James, the Lord's brother.
St. Paul, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, alludes James the Just, according to Hegesippus, " neither
to one of the appearances of our Lord after his resurrec- drank wine nor fermented liquors, and abstained from
which no mention is made in the Canonical
tion, of animal food ;"^ and though the account of Hegesippus
Gospels " After that, he was seen of James." *
: But is manifestly fabulous in some of its details, still there
according to his account, this appearance took place is no reason to doubt that James belonged to the ascetic
after several other manifestations, viz. after that to school among the Jews, as did the Baptist before him,
Cephas, that to the Twelve, and that to five hundred and as did the orthodox Ebionites after him. The oath
brethren at once. But it preceded another appearance to abstain from food till a certain event was accom-
to " aU the apostles." If we take the first and second to plished was not uimsual.'
have occurred on Easter-day, and the last to have been What is meant by " tiie Saviour giving the napkin to
the appearance to them again " after eight days," when the servant of the priest," it is impossible to conjecture
St. Thomas was present, then the appearance
to St. without the context. The napkin was probably that
between the " even " of which had covered his face in the tomb, but whether the
James must have taken place
Easter-day and Low Sunday. context linked this on to the cycle of sacred sindones

Now the Gospel of the Hebrews gives a particular impressed with the portrait of the Saviour's suffering

account of this visit to James, which however, according face, cannot be told. The designation of " the Just " as
certainly applied to James for the purpose of distingiiishing
to this account, took place early on Easter-day,
is

before Christ stood in the midst of the apostles

in the Mm from James the brother of John. He does not bear

upper room on Easter-evening. tliat name in the Canonical Gospels, but the title may
Jerome says, "The Gospel according to the He-
St.
have been introduced by St. Jerome to avoid confusion,
orit may have been a marginal gloss to the text.
brews relates that after the resurrection of the Saviour,
•
The Lord, after he Juid given the napkin to the servant
The story of this appearance found its way into the
appeared to him. Now
of tJie priest, went to James, and ' "ErangeUum . . . gecundora Hebraeos . . . post resurrectionem Sal-
James had sivorn vnth an oath that he woidd not eat TatoriB refert : —Dominns autem, cum dedisset Eindonem serro sacerdotis,

bread from that hour when he drank the cup of the Lord, irit ad Jacobum et apparuit ei. Juraverat enim Jacobus, se non comeEtnrum

he shmdd behold him rising from amidst

them that panem ab ilia bora, qua biberat calicem Domini, donee videret eum resur-
till

And again, a little after, 'The Lord said. Bring —

gentem a dormientibus. Rursusque post paululuin Afferte, ait Dominns, :

sleep:
and blessed
mensam et panem. Statimque additur : —
Tulit panem et benedixit, ac
a table and bread.' And then, 'He took bread /regit, et dedit Jacobo justo, et dixit ei : Prater mi, comede panem tnum,

and brake, and gave it to James the Just, and said unto quia resnrrexit Filius hominis a dormientibns."— Hieron. De viris iUns-

tribas, c. 2.
» 1 Cor. XT. 7.
* EuMb. H. B. lib. iL e. 23. 3 Acts xziii. 14.
150 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 151

writings of St. Gregory of Tours/ who no doubt drew " And when he had come to [Peter arid] those that were
it from St. Jerome and thence it passed into the
;
with Peter, he said unto tliem, Take, touch me, and see
Legenda Aurea of Jacques de Voragine. that I am
a bodiless spirit.
not And straightway they
If the Lord did appear to St. James on Easter-day, as touched him and believed."^
related in tliis lost Gospel, then it may have been in the St. Ignatius, who cites these words, excepting only
morning, and not after his appearance to the Twelve, or those within brackets, does not say whence he drew
on his appearance in the evening he may have singled them ;Jerome informs us that they were taken
but St.
out and addressed James before aU the others, as on that from the Gospel of the Hebrews. At the same time he
day week he addressed St Thomas. In either case, St. gives the passage with greater fulness than St. Ignatius.
Paul's version would be inaccurate as to the order of The account Matthew contains nothing at all
in St.
manifestations. The pseudo-Abdias, not in any way like this; but St.Luke mentions these circumstances,
trustworthy, thus relates the circumstance though with considerable differences. The Lord having
" James the Less among the disciples was an object of
appeared in the midst of his disciples, they imagine that
they see a spirit. Then he says, " Why are ye troubled?
special attachment to the Saviour, and he was inflamed with
such zeal for his Master that he would take no meat when
and why do thoughts arise in your hearts ? Behold my
his Lord was crucified, and would only eat again when he hands and my feet, that it is I myself : handle me, and
should see Clmst arisen from the dead ; for he remembered see ; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me
*
that when Christ was ahve he had given this precept to him have."
and to his brethren. That is why he, with Mary Magdalene The narrative in St. Luke's Gospel is fuUer than that
and Peter, was the fiist of all to whom Jesus Christ appeared, in the Gospel of the Hebrews, and is not derived from
; and that he
in order to confirm his disciples in the faith it In the Nazarene Gospel, as soon as the apostles
might not suffer him any a
to fast
longer, piece of an honey- see and touch, they believe. But in the Canonical Gospel
comb having been offered him, he invited James to eat of St Luke, they are not convinced tiU they see Christ
thereof." 2 eat
Gospel of the Hebrews Justin Martyr cites a passage now found in the
Another fragment of the lost
Canonical Gospel of St. John, but not exactly as there,
also relates to the resurrection
evidently therefore obtaining it from an independent

' Hist. Eccl. Francornm, i. 21. source, and that source was the Gospel of the Twelve,
* The " History of tlie Apostles " purports to have teen written by
* Kal 8ri TrpAc ''oic ""tpJ Illrpov fiKBtv i^ti abrdiq' \afitTt, ^tiXaffi-
Abdias B. of Babylon, disciple of the apostles, in Hebrew. It was trans-
anri lu, Kal IStn, on ohic iljil Saifioviov dffu/iaTor. Kal iv9i( airoa
lated into Greek, and thence, it was pretended, into Latin by Jolina
Airicanus. That it was rendered from Greek has been questioned by ^^avTO tai iwiartuaav. — Ignat. £p. ad Smym.
Jerome also " Et
c. 3. St. :

qoando venit ad Fetrum et ad eos qui cum Petro emnt, dixit eis Eece :

critics. As we ha^e it, it belongs to the ninth centaty ; but the publica-
palpate me et videte quia non sum demonium inoorporale. Et statim
tion of Syriac venions of the legends on which the book of Abdias was
tetigernnt enm et crediderunt"— De Script. Eccl. 16. Eusebius quotes
founded, Syriac veniona of the fonrth century, which were really translated
the passage after Ignatiua. Hist EccL iii. 37.
from the Greek, show that some Greek originals must hare existed at an
early age which are now lost
» Lake xiir. 87—39.
 GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 15.3
152 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.

the only one In the Clementine Recognitions, a work issuing from

the only one with which he was acquainted,
in the Nazarene Church. the Ebionite anti-Gnostic school, we find that the aboli-
then acknowledged as Canonical
" Except ye he regene- tion of the sacrifices was strongly insisted on. The abo-
The passage is, Christ 1ms said,
^ mination of idolatry is first exposed, and the strong hold
rate, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of lieaven."
couched that Egyptian idolatry had upon the IsraeUtes is pointed
In St. John's Gospel the parallel passage is
" man be born again, he out ; then we are told Moses received the Law, and, in
in the third person Except a :

stands consideration of the prejudices of the people, tolerated

cannot see the kingdom of God."^ The difference
sacrifice
out more clearly in the Greek than in English.
" When Moses perceived that the vice of sacrificing to idols
We may conjecture that the primitive Gospel of the
Hebrews contained an account of the interview of Nico- had been deeply ingrained into the people from their associar
tion with the Egyptians, and that the root of this evil could
demus with our Lord. When we come to consider the
Homilies not bo extracted from them, he allowed them to sacrifice in-
Gospel used by the author of the Clementine
the instruction on deed, but permitted it to be done only to God, that by any
and Recognitions, we shaU find that
him, but melius he might cut off one half of the deeply ingrained evil,
new bu'th made to Nicodemus was familiar to
leaving the other half to be corrected by another, and at a
recorded by St.
not exactly in the form in which it is future time ; by him, namely, concerning whom he said him-
John. self, A prophet shall the Lord your Grod raise imto you,
Jerome informs us that the lost Gospel we are
St. whom ye shall hear, even as myself, according to all things
veil of the Temple
considering did not relate that the which he shall say to you. Whosoever shall not hear that
ghost, but
was rent in twain when Jesus gave up the prophet, his soul shall be cut off from his people." *

feU down.'
that the lintel stone, a huge stone,
In another place the Jewish sacrifices are spoken of
That this tradition may be true is not unlikely. The
as siiL*
quaked, and it is probable
rocks were rent, and the earth This hostility to the Jewish sacrificial system by
that the great
enough that the Temple was so shaken Ebionites who observed aU the other Mosaic institu-
lintel stone fell. was due having sprung out of the old sect
tions to their
St. Epiphanius gives us another fragment
ye cease not
of the Essenes, who held the sacrifices in the same
"/ am co»ie to abolish the sacrijkes: if
abhorrence.'
the torath of God will rwt cease from
from saei'ificing,
That our Lord may have spoken against the sacrifices
*
weighing upon you." is possible enough. The passage may have stood thus
ivayivv^BUTi, ob ,irl dat\9!irt " Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the
•
Kal ydp 6 Xp.<rrAc «It«V &v ^^
obpavwv.—l Apolog. § 61. Oper. p. 94.
tic r^r PaaiUlav
tUv
Prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil; never-
» Edv (Liinc yfvvnOy Svuidtv, oi livarai
iliiv r^v PamXtiav r«D
theless, I teU you the truth, I am come to destroy the
ejoD.— John iii. 3.
»ed Baper-
» "In ETangelio legimus non yelum templi Bcissnm,
. . . * Eecog. i. 36. ' Recog. i. 54.
Iiminaretempliniir»magnitadiniscorruis80."-Epi8t. 120,
Ad Helibiam.
' Joseph. Antiq. zriii. 1, 6 ; Philo Jndsos. Tlepi rou vavTa anovidiov
9vnv, ov
*'EXOov caraXDwt rdc 9volac, «aJ lav fiii iraioaaOt ro« Hvai iXtvStpov. See what has been said on this subject already, p. 16,
Hsres. mi. 8 16.
raietrai ip' hf^Zv h ipr^.-Epiphan. H 3
154 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 155

sacrifices.But be ye approved money-changers, choose is now found only in St. Luke's Gospel. It must have
that which is good metal, reject that which is bad." stood originally without the M^ and the Kpeos in the
It is probable that in the original Hebrew
Gospel Gospel of the Twelve.
there was some such passage, for St. Paul, or whoever Another of their alterations of the Gospel was to the
was the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, apparently same intent. Instead of making
John the Baptist
St.

alludes to it twice. He says, " "When he cometh into eat locusts and wUd honey, they gave him for his nou-
the world he saith. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst rishment wild honey only, lyxpiBa^, instead of d^piSas

not, but a body hast thou prepared me."* The plain and fitXi aypiov.
meaning of which is, not that David had used those The passage in which this curious change was made
had
words centuries before, in prophecy, but that Jesus is remarkable. It served as the introduction to the
If Gospel in use among the Gnostic Ebionites.
used them himself when he came into the world.
the writer of the Epistle did quote a passage from the " A certain man, named Jesus, being about thirty years

Hebrew Gospel, it will have been the second from the of age, Jiath cJwsen us ; and Jiaving come to Capernaum,
he entered into the house of Simon, vjhose surname was
same source.
" by a criminal fraud," says Peter, and he said unto him. As I passed by the Sea of
In the Ebionite Gospel,
St. Epiphanius, a protestation
has been placed in the Tiberias, I chose John and James, the sons of Zebedee,
the Simon and Andrew, Thaddceus, Simon Zelotes and Judas
mouth of the Lord against the Paschal Sacrifice of
into a negative Iscariot ; and thee, Matthew, when thou wast sitting at
Lamb, by changing a positive phrase
thy tax-gatherer's table, then I called thee, and thou didst
one.
When the disciples ask Jesus where they
shall pre- follow me. And you do I clwose to be my twelve ^apostles
in St. Luke, to bear witness unto Israel.
pare the Passover, he is made to reply, not, as
" John baptized ; and the Pharisees came him, and
this Passover, but, to
that with desire he had desired to eat
"Have I then any desire to eat the flesh of the
Paschal they were baptized of him, and all Jerusalem also. He
had a garment of camels' hair, and a leathern girdle
Iamb with you ?"^
words about his loins, and his meat was wild honey, and the
The purpose of this interpolation of two
is

the Essenes, did taste thereof was as manna, and as a cake of oil."
clear. The Samaritan Ebionites, like
animal food with the Apparently after this announcement of his choice of
not touch meat, regarding aU
repugnance.'
greatest By the addition of two words
U the apostles there followed something analogous to the
of our Lord into a preface in St. Luke's Gospel, to the effect that these
they were able to convert the saying
But this saying of Jesus apostles, having assembled together, had taken in hand
sanction of theirsuperstition.
to write down those things that they remembered con-
» Heb. X. 6. ,
cerning Christ and his teaching. And it was on this
account that the Gospel obtained the name of the
Luke are placed
Bpiph. Her«8. «I 22. The word, added to those in St.
" Becollectiona of the Apostles," or the " Gospel of the
in brackets ; of. Luke xiiL 16.
Twelve."
' ' Epiphui. Hteres. xzz. 16.
 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.
J)| GOSPEL OP THE HEBREWS. 157
156

The special notice taken of St. Matthew, who is The saying is so beautiful, and so truly describes the

singled out from the others in this address, is significant

love of our Lord, thatwe must wish to believe it comes
and to uson such high authority as the Gospel of the Twelve.
of the relation supposed to exist between the Gospel
Another saying of Christ is quoted both by Clement
the converted publican. If we had the complete intro-
of Alexandria and by Origen, without saying whence
duction, we should probably find that in it he was
said
down apostolic they drew it, but by both as imdoubted sayings of the
to have been the scribe who wrote the
Saviour. It ran
recollections.
" Seek tlwse things that are great, and little things will
he added to you." " And seek ye heavenly things, and the
added to you."^
things of this ivorld will be
2. Doubtful Fragments.
It will be seen, the form as given by St. Clement is
There are a few fragments preserved by early eccle-
better and simpler tlian that given by Origen. It is
siastical writerswhich we cannot say for certain be- probable, however, that they both formed members of
longed to the Gospel of the Hebrews, but which there the same saying, following the usual Hebrew arrange-
is good reason to believe formed a part
of it. ment of repeating a maxim, giving it a slightly different
Matthew, quotes
Origen, in his Commentary on St. turn or a wider expansion. In two passages in other
in the
a saying of our Lord which is not to be found places Origen makes allusion to this saying without
acquainted
Canonical Gospels. Origen, we know, was quoting it directly.'
Hebrews.
with, and quoted respectfuUy, the Gospel of the In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke puts into the
quotation is taken from
It is therefore probable that this mouth of St. Paul a saying of Christ, which is not given
" Jesus said, Far tlvt sake of the weak I became
:
weak,
by any evangelist, in these words " Remember the
it :

the sake of the

for the sake of the hungry I hungered, for words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed
thirsty I thirsted." ^ to give than to receive." ' It is curious that this saying
after the
That this passage, fuU of beauty, occurred should not have been inserted by St. Luke in his Gospel.
by prayer and
words, "This kind goeth not out but Whether this saying found its way into the Hebrew
commenting on which Origen quotes
fasting," in
it, is
Gospel it is impossible to telL
It is noteworthy that it is quoted in comment In the Epistle of St. Barnabas another utterance of
probable.
the lost
on Matthew's Gospel, the one to wliich
St. Christ is given. This Epistle is so distinctly of a
and one which Judaizing character, so manifestly belongs to the Naza-
Gospel bore the closest resemblance,
compiling his
Origen would probably consult whilst
Commentary on St. Matthew.' * AhfiaOe yap, ^ijiri, tA fiiyoKa, xat tA fiixpi vfuv jrpoirrtOqffarai.

KalMrobs Clemens Alex. Stromatse, i. Kai alriirt tA tirovpavia, rai tA Myiia

» yoDv ^^(tJ, Aid roic MtvovvraQ t,Mvovv,
KaJ 'Inoovs ujiTv wpooTfOiiatTai. —
Origen, De Orat. 2 and 43.
In Matt. ivii. 21.
«,vavrac ^«i«'<-»'. ««» «"* "^f i^Uvrai iSi^iov.
* Cont. Cels. vii. and De Orat. 63.
wm in the mind of St. Paul when he wrote of
« Perhaps this pan>ge * Acts zx. 35. It is also quoted as a sajing of our Lord in the Apos-
" To weak became I as weak, that I might gam the weak.
himself, the
tolic Constitutions, it. 3.
1 Cor. ix. 22.

mr
158 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 159

rene school, that such a refereuce in it makes it more This is clearly another version of the passage, Matt.
than probable that it was taken from the Gospel re- X. —
16 26. In one particular it is fuller than in the
ceived as Canonical among the Nazarenes. The saying Canonical Gospel; it introduces St. Peter as speaking
of St. Barnabas is, " All the time of our life and of our and drawing forth the exhortation not to fear those
faith •wUl not profit us, if we have not in abhorrence who kill the body only. But it is without the long
the evil one and future temptation, even as the Son of exhortation contained in the 17 27th verses of St. —
God said, Resist all iniquity and Iwld it in abhorrence."^ Matthew.
Another saying in the Epistle of St. Barnabas is, " They Another saying from the same source is, " This, there-
who would see me, and attain to my kingdom, must possess fore, the Lord said, Keep the flesh chaste and tlie seal
*
m,e through afflictions and sufferings." undefUed, and ye sJmll receive eternal life." * The seal is

In the second Epistle of St. Clement of Eome to the the unction of confirmation completing baptism, and in
Corinthians occurs a very striking passage " Wherefore : the primitive Church united with it. It is the <T<f)payi<;

to us doing such things the Lord said. If ye were with so often spoken of in the Epistles of St. Paul.^
nue, gathered together in my hosom, and did not keep my Justin Martyr contributes anotlier saying. We have
commandments, I would cast you out, and say unto you,. already seen that in aU likeliliood he quoted from the
Depart from me, I knoiu not whence ye are, ye woi-kers of Gospel of the Hebrews, or the EecoUections of the
iniquity." ' Twelve, as he called it. He says, " On this account
We can well understand this occurring in an anti- also our Lord Jesus Christ said, In those things in which
Pauline Gospel. I slwll overtake you, in those things will I judge you." '

Agaui. " The Lord Be ye as lambs in the midst

said, Clement of Alexandria makes the same quotation,
Peter answered and said unto him. But what slightly varying the words. Justin and Clement appa-
of wolves.
rently both translated from the original Hebrew, but
if the loolves sludl rend the lambs ? Jesus said unto Peter,
Tlie lambs fear not tJie wolves after tlieir death; and ye did not give exactly the same rendering of words, though

also, do not ye fear them tlmt kill you, and after tlmt
they gave the same sense.
Jiave nothing that they can do to you, but fear ratJicr him
Clement gives us another saying, but does not say
wlw, after ye are dead, 1ms power to cast your soul and
* 4 'Iijffouc r<j! Tlirpip. Mi) ^ofiiiaOmaav ra apvia roif \vkovq fiiri t6
body into hell fire."
Kal
AiroOaviiv avri. v/iiT^ fit) ^ofiuaOl rove airoKriwovTac vfiag, Kal
fit)Siv Vfiiv Svvafiivovc noteXv, AXKA ^oPiiaQi tov fitrA to AiroOavtiv
> Ep. 4.
vftaq txovra if,ovaiav '/'ux^C •^''' oi^faroc tov paKilv tig yi^wav irvpbg.
* Oiirot, fTiatv, m O'lKovTic fit IStiv, raJ ui^iaa9at fiov tt/c PaatXtla^, 6-
Ibid. 5.
^e(Xou(Ti 9\tfiivTCs «rni naBovTCi Xafiitv /it.— Ep. 7.
* 'Apa oiiv TOVTO \iyti : TijpTJffart rrjv aapxa aytn^v Kai Trjv ailipayiSa
' Aid TOVTO ravTa ijiiHv npaaaovToiv, tlirtv 6 cvpioc, 'Edv tjre /ilr'
aaniXov, 'Iva rt)v aliiviov ^uirjv djro\d/3)jrt. Ibid. 8.
iuov avvriyiiivoi li> Tip coXttv fiov, rai /i^ iroifirt rdf IvToXac fiov, airo-
ohx oiSa iifiag, ipyarai Avoftias.
* Rom. 17. 11; 2 Cor. i. 22; Eph. i. 13, iv. 30; 2 Tim. ii. 19.
fidKZ Vfias Kal ipd tifitv, viraylTC aw' ifiov,
2 Ep. ad Corinth. 4.
' 'El' oif Av Vfiag KaToKapiD, Iv roi'/roif xal Kpivui. — Just. Mart, in

* Aeyft yip 4 Kvpiof, iata9t wc ipvia Iv itioif Xvkiov. 'kiroKpi9ti( Si Dialog, c. Trypho. 'E<p' mg yap l^vpia )]fid(, ^jjaiv, lirt Tovrotg Kal KpivH.
Clem. Alex. Quia dires salr. 40.
6 Hirpoe AvTV \iyti, 'Ear ovv iiaanapaluiaiv 6t Xukoi ra
apvia ; 'Eijrtv
160 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBIIEWS. 161

from what Gospel he drew it " Tlie Lord commanded sects spent their petty lives in accentuating their pecu-

in a certain Gospel, My secret is for me and for the chil- liarities till they grew into monstrosities; and when
dren of my Jwuse."
*
they fell and disappeared, there fell and disappeared
with them those precious records of the Saviour's words
and works which they had preserved.
The Hebrew Gospel was closely related to tbe Gospel

3. The Origin of the Gospel of the Hebrews. of St. Matthew ; that we know from the testimony of
St. Jerome, who saw, copied and translated it. That
We come now to a question delicate, and difiBicult to
it was not identical with the Canonical first Gospel is
answer — theOrigin of the Gospel of the Hebrews; also certain. Sufficient fragments have been preserved
delicate, because it involves another, the origin of the to show tliat in many points it was fuller, in some less
Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark ; difficult, because complete, than the Greek Gospel of St. INIatthew. The
of the nature of the evidence on whioh we shall have to two Gospels were twin sisters speaking different tongues.
form our opinion. Was the Greek of the first Gospel acquired, or was it
Because the Gospel of the Hebrews is not preserved, original? This a point deserving of investigation
is

is not in the Canon, it does not follow that

its value before we fix the origin and determine the construction
was slight, its accuracy doubtful. Its disappearance is of the Hebrew Gospel.
due partly to the fact of its having been written in According to a fragment of a lost work by Papias,
Aramaic, but chiefly to that of its having been in use written about the middle of the second century, under
^
by an Aramaic-speaking community which assumed the title of " Commentary on the Sayings of the Lord,"
first a schismatical, then a heretical
position, so that the the apostle Matthew was the author of a collection of
disfavour which fell on the Nazarene body enveloped the " sayings," Adyta, of our blessed Lord. The passage
and doomed its Gospel as well. has been already given, but it is necessary to quote it
The four Canonical Gospels owe their preservation to again here Matthew \vrote in the Hebrew dialect the
:
"

Christian com- one interpreted them as best he was

their having been in use among those sayings, and every
munities which coalesced under the moulding hands of able." 2 "
These logia" could only be, according to the
St. John. Those parties which
were reluctant to abandon signification of the word (Rom. iii. 2; Heb. v. 12;

their peculiar features were looked

upon with coldness, Pet. iv. 11 Acts vii. 38), a collection of the sayings of
;

then aversion, lastly abhorrence. They became more the Saviour that were regarded a^ oracular, as "the

and more isolated, eccentric, prejudiced,

impracticable. words of God." That they were the words of Jesus,
Whilst the Church asserted her catholicity,
organized follows from the title given by Papias to his com-
formulated her mentary, Adyia KvpiaKa.
her constitution, established her canon,
the flux of ideas, these narrow
creed, adapted herself to ' Aoyiwv KvpiaKdyv l^riyqatic.

* MarOaioc ovv iPpatli StaXiKTifi ra \6yia ijvviypatljaTo, I'lpfirivtvae

1 MMffriipMH' tultv l/«ol cat role wolc too o\kov /xow.— Clem. ^ex. ftiv

II abri i>s fjv IvvaThi tKaaroQ.

Strom. .
162 LOST PETRINE GOSPKLS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 163

Thia brief notice

is sufficient to show that Matthew's the apostle John, but from the mouths of men who
collection was not the Gospel as it now stands. It was had companied with old priests and disciples of the
no collection of the acts, no biography, of the Saviour apostles, and who had related to him what Andrew,
it was solely a collection of his discourses.
Peter, Philip, Tliomas, James, John and other disciples
This is made clearer by what Papias says in the same of the Lord had said (eiTrtv). Besides the testimony of
work on St. Mark. He relates that the latter wrote not these priests, Papias appealed further to the evidence of
only what Jesus had said, but also what he did;^ Aristion and the priest Jolm, disciples of the Lord,^ still
whereas St. Matthew wrote only what had been said? alive and bearing testimony when he wrote. "And,"
The work of Matthew, therefore, contained no doings, says Papias, " I do not think that I derived so much
vpaxQivra, but Only Sayings, Atx^evra, which were, ac- benefit from books as from the living voice of those that
cording to Papias, written in Hebrew, i.e. the vernacular are still surviving." ^

Aramaic, and which were translated into Greek by every
one as best he was able.
This notice of Papias is very ancient. The Bishop of
HierapoUs is called by Irenseus " a very old man,"' and
by the same writer is said to have been " a friend
of Polycarp," and " one who had heard John." * That
thia John was the apostle is not certain. It was ques-
tioned by Eusebius in his mention of the Prooemium of
Papias. John the priest and John the apostle were
both at Ephesus, and both lived there at the close of
the first century. Some have thought the Apocalypse
to have been the work of the priest John, and not of
the apostle. Others have supposed that there was only
one John. However this may
Papias lived at a time when it
correct information relating to the origin of the sacred
books in use among the Christians.
Papias, therefore, had his information about the
apostles second-hand, from those " who followed them
about." Nevertheless, his evidence is quite trustworthy.
He takes pains to inform us that he used great pre-
caution to obtain the truth about every particular he
stated, and the means of obtaining the truth were at his
disposal That Papias was a man " of a limited com-
prehension"' does not affect the trustworthiness of his
statement Eusebius thus designates him because he
believed in the Millennium; but so did most of the
Christians of the first age, as well as in the immediate
second coming of Christ, till undeceived by events.
The statement of Papias does not justify us in sup-
be, it is certain that posing that Matthew wrote the Gospel in Hebrew, but
was possible to obtain only a collection of the logia, the sayings of Jesus.
Eusebius did not mistake the Sayings for the Gospel,
for he speaks separately of the Hebrew Gospel,* without

According to the Prooetnium of Papias, which Eusebius connecting it in any way with the testimony of Papias.
has preserved, the Bishop of Hierapolis had obtained According to Eusebius, Papias wrote his Commentary
his knowledge, not directly from the apostles, nor from in five books.^ It is not improbable, therefore, that the

* Scarcely actoal disciples and eye-witnesses.

* rd vvh Tov Xpurrov ^ XixBivra fl irpaxOiina; and oi iroio£/icvoc
* Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 39. ' afoSpa tr/tucpi; tov vovv.
attvraCtv rSv KvptcueCiv Xoyioiv. iii.

' (ipXaioc Avfip. * KoS" 'Ej3paio*c tiiayyiKiov. H. E. iiL 25, 27, 39 It. 22.
* ffvvcypd^aro tA \oyta. ;

* ovyypapiuzTa nivTt.
* Iren. c. Hseres. r. 33.
 GOSPEL OF TRE HEBREWS. 165
l64 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.

" Logia " were broken into five parts or grouped in five Aramaic words, as Baka (v. 22),* Mammon (vi. 22)/
Gehenna (v. 22),' Amen (v. 18).* Many others might
discourses, and that he wrote an explanation of each
be cited, but these wUl suffice.
discourse in a separate book or chapter.
(3. Next, we have the use of illustrations which are
The statement of Papiaa, if it does not refer to the
only comprehensible by Hebrews, as " One jot and one
Gospel of St. Matthew as it now stands, does refer
tittle shall in no wise fall." The 'Imra of the Greek
to one of the constituent parts of that Gospel, and
text is the Aramaic Jod (v. 18); but the " one tittle" is
does explain much that would be otherwise inex-
more remarkable. In the Greek it is "one horn," or
plicable.
" stroke."* The idea is taken from the Aramaic ortho-
1. St. Matthew's Gospel differs from St. Mark's in
that it contains long discourses, sayings and parables,
graphy. A stroke distinguishes one consonant from
another, as n and n from X With this the Greeks had
which are wanting or only given in a brief form in
notliing that corresponded.
the second Canonical Gospel. It is therefore probable
composition were used the "Logia of the
y. WeHebraisms in great number in the dis-
find
that in its
by St. Matthew.®
courses of our Lord given
Lord," written by Matthew.
8. We find mistranslations. The Greek Canonical
2. If the collection of " Sayings of the Lord " con-
text gives a wrong meaning, or no meaning at aU,
sisted, ashas been suggested, of five parts, then we find
through misunderstanding of the Aramaic. By restora-
traces in the Canonical Matthew of five groups of dis-
tion of the Aramaic text we can rectify the translation.
courses, concluded by the same formulary: "And it
Thus:
came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings"
Matt. vii. 6, "Give not that which is holy to dogs,
Xoyovs TovTovs), or "parables," vii. 28, xi. 1,
(tovs
neither cast ye your pearls before swine." The word
xiii. 53, xix. 1, xxvi. 1. It is not, however, possible
" holy," TO ayiov, is a misinterpretation of the Aramaic
to restore all the "logia" to their primitive positions,
Httnp, a gold jewel for the ear, head or neck.^ The
for they have been dispersed through the Canonical
translator mistook the word for MB7hp, or Ntthp without
Gospel, and arranged in connection with the events " the holy."
1, The sentence in the original therefore
which called them forth. In the " Sayings of the Lord"
all the
of Matthew, these events were not narrated ; but > Aram. Mp'^T ' Aram. M3*IOO
sayings were placed together, like the proverbs in the ' Aram, nana * Aram. ]aM
book of Solomon. • lua tcpaia, Aram. ^ ip or VPl^-
3. Logia" of the Lord were written by Matthew
The "
• yi. 7, ^arroXoytiv t. 6, cXijpovo/iEii' ri)!* yijv t. 2, iyvoljtiv to
Aramaic. If they ; ;

in Hebrew, i.e. in the vernacular orS/ia ; t. 3, vrioxoi ; v. 9, i;loi tov OeoC ; t. 12, /iKrOi; jroXuf ; v. 39,
or a composite part of the
have formed the groundwork, Tif irovtiptfi ; vi. 25 ; x. 28, 39, iJ'UX')) for life ; vi. 22, 23, ajrXoOf and
Canonical Gospel, are Ukely to detect in the Greek
we Kovripbt, lonDd and sick ; ti. 11, aprog, for general food ; the "birds of

some traces of their origin. And this, in fact, we are heaven," in vi. 25, &c. &c.

' Targnm, Gen. xxiv. 22, 47 ; Job xlii. 11 ; Exod. xzziL 2 ; Judges
able to do. , •
r viii. 24 ; Pror. xi. 22, ixr. 12 ; Hos. il 13.
a. In the first place, we have the introduction of
166 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS.
167
ran, " Give not a gold jewel to dogs, neither cast pearls the Greek compUer of the
Gospel, unacquainted
before swine." the original Hebrew text
with
Matt. V. 37, " Let your conversation be Yea, yea. Nay, Matt. ii. 15, "Out of Egypt
have I caUed soa" my
nay." This is meaningless. we restore the con-
But if, This ,s quoted literaUy from
the Hebrew text. That of
struction in Aramaic we have 1Mb M^, ^n ^n D^b H:in\ the LXX. has, "Out of
Egypt have I called my chl
and the meaning is, " In your conversation let your yea
bp yea, and your nay be nay." The yea, yea, and nay, prophecy of our Lord consequently he
;
who inserted this
nay, in the Hebrew come together, and this misled the leference can have known jpnly the Hebrew text, and
translator. St. James quotes the saying rightly (v. 12), not the Greek vei^ion. But
in ii. 18, the compiler fol-
" Let your yea be yea^ and your nay, nay lest ye fall ' lows the LXX. Aud again,
;
"He shaU be caUed
ii. 23,
into condemnation;" lit is a form of a Rabbinic maxim, a Nazarene," NaC^pato,.
The Hebrew ig -,«, of which
" The yea of the righteous is yea, and their nay is nay." KaC^opato, is no translation.
The LXX. have NaCcpaTo,
It is an injunction to speak the truth. The compiler waa caught by the
simUarity of sounds '

We have therefore good grounds for our conjecture Matt iiL 3. Here the construction
of the LXX is
that St. Matthew's genuine " Sayings of the Lord " form foUowed, which unites "in the
wilderness" with "the
a part of the Canonical Gospel. voice of one crying." The Hebrew wa^ therefore not
We have next to consider. Whence came the rest of Known by the compiler.
the material, the record of the "doings of the Lord," Matt iv. 15. Here the LXX. is not followed, for the
which the compUer interwove with the "Sayings"? word yfj IS used in place of ^^pa. The quotation is not
We have tolerably convincing evidence that the com- '''"""^ ^'''° ^''''^' ^"' ^PPare^ti;
piler placed under contribution both Aramaic and Greek fromTSr!^'"
collections. Matt. viiL 17. This quotation
is nearer the original
For from the Old Testament are not
the citations Hebrew than the rendering of the LXX
taken exclusively from the Hebrew Scriptures, nor from Matt xiL 18-21. In this citation we
have an incor-
the Greek translation of the Seventy; but some are rect rendering of the Hebrew inninb, "
at his teaching "
taken from the Greek translation, and some are taken made by the LXX "in his name?'
adopted without
from the Hebrew, or from a Syro-Chaldsean Targum or hesitation by the compiler. He also accepts the erro-
Paraphrase, probably in use at the time. neous rendering of "islands," made
"nation" "Gen-
Matt. i. 23, " A virgin shall be with child, and shall tUes," by the LXX.
bring forth a son." This is quoted as a prophecy of the But. on the other hand, "till he
send forth judgment
miraculous conception. But it is only a prophecy in the unto victoiy," is taken from neither
the original Hebrew
version of the LXX., which renders the Hebrew word nor from the LXX., and is probably derived from a
vapOfvois, "virgin." The Hebrew word does not mean Targum.
virgin exclusively, but "a young woman." We may Thus in this passage we have apparently a combina-
therefore conclude that verses 22, 23, were additions by
168 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 169

tion of two somewhat similar accounts —the one in and not that thy whole body
should be cast into hell.
two eyes
fire.
to be cast into hell

Greek, the other in Aramaic.

30 And if thy right hand 8 Wherefore if thy hand or
Matt. xiii. 35. This also The is a compound text.
offend thee, cut it off, and thy foot offend thee, cut them
first half is from the LXX., but the second member is
cast it from thee for it is: off, and cast them from thee
from a Hebrew Targum, profitable for thee that one of it is better for thee to enter in-
Matt, xxvii. 3. In the Hebrew, the field is not a
thy members should perish, to life halt or maimed, rather
" potter's," nor is it in the LXX., who use x<^>'<vt^p"'>'» and not that thy whole body than having two hands or two
" the smelting-furnace." The word in the Hebrew sig- should be cast into hell. feet to be cast into everlasting
nifies "treasury." The composer of the Gospel there- fire.

fore must have quoted from a Targum, and been igno- 32 But I say unto you, xix. 9 And I say unto you.
rant both of the genuine Hebrew Scriptures and of the Thatwhosoever shall put away Whosoever shall put away his

Greek translation of the Seventy. , his wife, saving for the cause wife, except it be for fornica-
These instances are enough to show that the material of fornication, causeth her to tion, and shall marry another,
used for the compilation of the first Canonical Gospel commit adultery and whoso- : committethadultery: and who-
ever shall marry her that is so marrieth her which is put
was very various that the author had at his disposal
;

divorced committeth adultery. away doth commit adultery.

matter in both Ai-amaic and Greek.
vi 14 For if ye foigive xviiL 35 So likewise shall
We shall find, on looking further, that he inserted men their trespasses, yotir my heavenly Father do also
two narratives of the same event in his Gospel in dif-
heavenly Father will also for- unto you, if ye from your
ferent places, if they differed slightly from one another,
give you: hearts forgive not every one
•when coming to him from different sources. 15 But if ye forgive not his brother their trespasses.
The following are parallel passages :
men their trespasses, neither
will your Father forgive your
iv. 23 And Jesus went ix. 35 And Jesus went

about all Galilee, teacliing in about all the cities and vil-
vii 16 Ye shall know them xii. 33 Either make the tree
their synagogues, and preach- lages, teaching in their syna-
the
by their fruits. Do men good, and his fruit good; or
ing the gospel of the king- gogues, and preaching
gather grapes of thorns, or else make the tree corrupt, and
dom, and healing all manner gospel of the kingdom, and
figs of thistles 1 his fruit corrupt: for the tree
every sickness and
of sickness and all manner of healing
17 Even so eveiy good tree is known by his fruit.
disease among the people. every disease among the
bringeth forth good fruit; but
people.
a corrupt tree bringeth forth
V. 29 And if thy right eye xviiL 9 And if thine eye
evil fruit.
and offend thee, pluck it out, and
offend thee, pluck it out,
1 A good tree cannot bring
for it is cast it from thee: it is better
cast it from thee :
forth evil fruit, neither can a
profitable for thee that one of for thee to enter into life with
corrupt tree bring forth gbod
thy members should perish, one eye, rather than having
fruit.

'if. -A-
170 LOST PETBINE GOSPELS.
GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS.
171
ix. 13 But go ye and leam xii. 7 But if ye had known xvi. 19 And I will
give xviii. 18 Verily I say
what that meaneth, I will what this meaneth, I T\'ill
unto thee the keys of unto
the you, Whatsoever ye shall
have mercy, and not sacrifice. have mercy, and not sacrifice. kingdom of heaven: and what- bind
on earth shall be bound
ix. 34 But the Pharisees xii. 24 But when the Pharir soever thou Shalt bind in
onearth heaven: and whatsoever
said, He casteth out devils sees heanl it, they said, Thia sliall be boimd in
ye
heaven and : shall loose
on earth shall be
through the prince of the fellow doth not cast out devils, whatsoever thou slialt loose loosed in heaven.
devils. but by Beelzebub the prince on earth shall be loosed in
of the devils. heaven.
X. 15 Verily I say nnto xi. 24. But I say unto you. xvii. 20 And Jesus said xxi. 21 Jesus
you, It shall he more tolerable That it shall be more toler- answered and
unto them. Because of
your said unto them, Verily
for the land of Sodom and able for the land of Sodom in unbehef for verily I say un-
I say
:
unto you, If ye have faith,
Gomorrha in the day of judg- the day of judgment, than for to you, If ye have faith as a and doul)t not, ye shall not
ment, than for that city. thee. grain of mustard soed, ye shall
only do this which is done
17 But beware of men: for xxiv. 9 Then shall they eay unto thii mountain, to
Ke- thefig tree, but also if
they will deliver you up to deliveryou up to be afflicted, ye shall
move hence to yonder place say unto this mountain,
the councils, and they wUl and shall kill you and ye :
and Be
it sliall remove ; and no- thou removed, and be thou
Bcourgo you in their syna- shall be liated of all nations thing shall he impossible
unto cast into the sea; it shall
gogues; for my name's sake. you.
be
done.
22 And ye shall be hated xxiv. 11 And many false xxiv.
24 For there shall
of all men for my name's sake. prophets shall rise, and shall arise false Christs, and false
xii. 39 But he answered and xvi. 4 A wicked and adul- deceive many.
prophets, and shall shew great
eaid unto them. An evil and terous generation seeketh after
signs and wonders insomuch
a sign; and there shall no sign
:
adulterous generation seeketh
that, if itwere possible, they
after a sign; and there shall be given imto it, but the sign
shall deceive the very elect.
no sign be given to it, but the of the prophet Jonas. xxiv. 23 Then if any man xxiv. 26 "Wherefore if they
sign of the prophet Jonas. shall say unto you, Lo, here shall say unto you, Behold,
xiii. 12 rorwhosoeverhath, XXV. 29 For unto every one is Christ, or there ; beheve it he is in the desert;
and he that hath shall be given, and
go not
to him shall be given, not.
forth : behold, he is in the se-
shall have more abundance he shall h.ive abundance: but
cret chambers; believe it not.
but whosoever hath not, from from him tliat hath not shall
him shall be taken away even be taken away even that which The existence in the first Canonical
Gospel of these
that he hath. he hath. duplicate passages proves that the
editor of it in its pre-
xiv. 5 And when he would xxi. 26 But if we shall say, i sent form made use of materials
from different sources
have put him to death, he Of men; we fear the people; which he worked together into a complete
John as a pro-
whole. And
feared the midtitude, because for all hold these duplicate passages are the
more remarkahle, be-
they counted him as a pro- phet.
cause, where his memory does
not faU him, he tiikes
phet. pains to avoid repetition.
I2
172 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 173

It would seem therefore plain that the compiler of St 3. It was composed of records of both the sayings and
the
Matthew's Gospel made use of, first, a Collection of the doings of Jesus.^
drawn
Sayings of the Lord, of undoubted genuineness, 4. It was no syntax of sayings {a-6vTa^L<s \oylmv), like
up by St. Matthew second, of two or more Collections
;
the work of Matthew.^
of the Sayings and Doings of the Lord, also,
no doubt,
5. It was the composition of a companion of Peter.'

genuine, but not necessarily by St. JLatthew. These characteristic features of the work of Mark
One of these sources was made use of also by St. Mark
agree with the Mark Gospel, some of the special features
in the composition of his Gospel. of wliich are :

According to the testimony of Papias 1. Want of order : it is made up of a string of epi-

" John the Priest said this Mark being the interpreter of
: sodes and anecdotes, and of sayings manifestly imcon-
with great accuracy,
Peter, whatsoever he recorded he wrote nected.
spoken or done
but not, however, in the order in which it was 2. The order of events is whoUy different from that
oUowed our Lord, but,
by our Lord, for he neither heard nor f in Matthew, Luke and John.
with Peter, who gave him
as before said, he was in company 3. Both the sayings and the doings of Jesus are re-
but did not study to
such mstruction as occasion caUed forth, lated in it
wherefore Mark has
give a liistory of our Lord's discourses ; 4. It contains no long discourses, like the Gospel of
not erred in anything, by writing this
and that as he has re-
to one thing,
St. Matthew, arranged in systematic order.
membered them for he was carefully attentive
;
It contains many incidents which point to St Peter
5.
nor to state anything
not to pass by anytliing that he heard,
^ as the authority for them, and recall his preaching.
falsely in these accounts."
—
To this belong the manner in which the Gospel
disputed, whether this
It has been often asked and opens with the baptism of Jolm, just as St. Peter's
statement applies to the Gospel of St.
Mark received by —
address (Acts x. 37 41) begins with that event also
the Church into her sacred canon. the many little incidents mentioned wliich give token
the Canonical Gospel of
It can hardly be denied that of having been related by an eye-witness, and in which
particular to the description
Mark does answer in every the narrative of St Matthew is deficient.* St Mark's
composition by John the Priest John
gives five
of its
characteristics to the work of Mark ' XtxOivra kox -irpaxOtvra.

1. A striving after accuracy.^

* MaOaioQ rd Xoyio avvtraXaTO — . MdpKoc . . . ovk iiairep avvTa^iv

2 Want of chronological succession in his narrative, tS>v KvpiaKwv Xoyiiiiv Troiovptvog,

which had rather the character of a
and sayings than of a biography.'
» Euaeb. Hint. Eccl. iii-
» cbtp./35c hP<'4'tv, and
string of anecdotes
* Mapicoc ip/iijvtur^c Hirpov ytvofUvog typn^cv.
* Mark i. 20, " they left their father Zebedee in the ship vrith the
day-laboureri ;" i. 31, "he took her hy the hand;" ii. 3, '"a paralytic
39.
home of four ;" 4, "they broke up the roof and let down the bed;"
" they pressed upon him to touch him ;" iiL 20, "they could not
iii. 10,
liroi{,.raTo np6vo,av Tov /i^^'v ,rapa\imXv h
so much ns eat bread " iii. 32, "the multitude sat about him;" iv. 36,
;

" they took him even as he io(u," without his going home firat to get what
» 0& jilvroi rdlH, and tvta ypdfac, i>c in'fivr,ii6vtv<nv.
was necessary ; iv. 38, " on a piUow; " v. 3 — 5, v. 25 — 34, vi. 40, the
 174 LOST PBTRINE OOSPELS.
GOSPEL OF TIIE HEBREWS. 175
Gospel 18 also
rich in indications of the
feelings of the of John and of the Pharisees," but certain other persons.
people toward Jesus, such as
an eye-witness must have Kal used in St. Mark's Gospel in several
ip)^ovTal is so
observed,^ and of notices of movements
of the body- places, like the French " on venait."
small significant acts, which
could not escape one present But the compiler of St. Matthew's Gospel did not
who described what he had seen.*
understand this use of the verb without a subject ex-
That the composer of St.
Matthew's Gospel made use pressed,and he made "the disciples of John" ask the
of the material out of wlxich
St. Mark compUed his, that question.
IS,of the memorabilia of
St. Peter, is evident. Whole Mark vi. 10 'Ottou oi' fla-iXdrfre fis o'lKiav, tKei iiivtrt
:

passages of St. Mark's Gospel

occur word for word, or Im a.v t^iXOrjTe (K(iOcv. That is, " Wherever {i.e. in what-
nearly so, in the Gospel of
St. Matthew.3 soever town or village) ye enter into a house, therein
Moreover, it is
apparent that sometimes the author
of remain (i.e. in that house) tiU ye go away thence (i.e.
St. Matthews Gospel
misunderstood the text. A few from that city or village)." By leaving out the word
instances must suffice here.
Iwusc, Matthew loses the sense of the command (x. 11),
Mark ii.

Pharisees were fasting.

18: "And the disciples of John and of the " Into whatsoever town or village ye enter —remain in
And tliey came to him and it till ye go out of it."
said to him, Wliy do the disciples of John, and the Mark viL 27, 28. The Lord answers the Syro-Phoe-
disciples of the Pharisees, fast,
and thy disciples fast nician woman, " Let the children first be filled : for it is
not? It 13 clear that it was then
a fasting season not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto
which the disciples of Jesus were not The woman answers, " Yes, Lord yet the
observing. The the dogs." ;
" they" who came to him does not mean " the
disciples dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs." The
meaning is, God gives His grace and mercy first to the
ranks, the hnndreds, the green graw; vi.
53-66, x. 17, there came one Jews (the children) and tliis must not be taken from
;
rnnmng, and kneeled to him; x. 50, "casting
away his robe;" xi. 4, "a
solt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met;"
the Jews to be given to the heathen (the dogs). True,
xi. 12—14
xi. 16. xiii. 1, the disci|)le3 notice the great
which the temple
!>tone> of answers the woman ; but the heathen do partake of the
was built; xiv. 3, xiv. "he spoke yet more Tehemently"
5, 8, 31, blessings that overflow from the portion of the Jews.
XIV. 51, 62, 6(5, "he warmed himself at the fire;" xv. 21, "coming
of the country
;
" xv. 40, 41, Salome named.
° out But the so-called Matthew did not catch the signifi-

» Mark i. 33, 45,

cation, and the point is lost in liis version (xv. 27). He
ii. 2, 13, iii. 9, 20, 32, iv. 10, r. 21, 24, 31, vi 31 '
65, viii. 34, xi. 18. makes the woman answer, " The dogs eat of the crumbs
» Marki. 7, "he bowed himself;" "he
wliich fall from tlieir masters' table."
iii. 6, looked round with anger-"
ix. 33, "he sat down;" x. 16, "he took them up in his arms, and laid Mark x. 13. According to St. Mark, parents brought
hishands on them;" x. 23, "Jesus looked round about;" xiv. 3, "she their children to Christ, probably with some superstitious
broke the box;" xiv. 4, "they murmured;" xiv. 40, "they knew not
idea, to be touched. This offended the disciples. " They
what to answer him ;" xiv. 67, &c.
rebuked those that brought them." But Jesus was dis-
' Compare
Mark iv. 4 v\.; 1 sq.; x. 42 sq. ; xiii. 28 sq. ; xiv. 43
viii.
pleased, and said to the disciples, " Suffer the little
rq. &c.
Matt, xiii 4 8q.; xv. 32 sq.; xx. 28 sq.; xxiv, 32 sq.; xxvi. 47 sq. &c.
176 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 177

children to come unto me." And instead of fulfilling Mark i. 12 :

" The Spirit driveth," iK/3dXk(i, he soft-
the superstitious wishes of the parents, he took the ened into "led," dvrixOr}.
children in liis arms and blessed them. But the text Mark iiL 4 : "He saith, Is it lawful to do good on the
used by Matthew's compilator was probably defective
St. Sabbath-days, or to do evil ?" In St. Matthew's Gospel,
at the end of verse 13, and ended, " and his disciples before performing a miracle, Christ argues the necessity
rebuked .".The compiler therefore completed it
. . of showing mercy on the Sabbath-day, and supplies
with avrois instead of rots Trpo(r<f>(pov(riv, and then mis- what is wanting in St. —
Mark the conclusion, " Where-
understood verse 14, and applied the a<^tT€ differently fore it is lawful to do weU on the Sabbath-days"
" Let go the children, and do not liinder them from (xU. 12).
coming to me." In St. Mark, the disciples rebuke the Mark iv. "
That seeing they might not see, and
12 :

parents in St. Matthew, they rebuke the children, and

; hearing they might not hear." Tliis seemed harsh to
intercept them on their way to Christ. the compiler of St. Matthew. It was as if unbelief and
Mark xii. 8 " They slew him and cast him out," i.e.
: blindness Avere fatally imposed by God on men. He
cast out the dead body. The compiler of St. Matthew's therefore alters the tenor of the passage, and attributes
Gospel did not see this. He could not understand how the blindness of the people, and their incapability of
that the son was killed and then cast out of the vine- understanding, to their own grossness of heart (xiii. 14,
yard so he altered the order into, " They cast him out
; 15).
and slew him" (xxi. 38).^ Mark v. 37 :
" The ship was freighted," in St. Matthew,
Examples might be multiplied, but these must suffice. is altered into, " the ship was covered " with the waves
If I am not mistaken, they go far to prove that the (vui. 34).
author of St. Matthew's Gospel used the material, or Mark vi. 9 :
" Money in the girdle," changed into,
some of the material, out of which St. Mark's Gospel " money in the girdles" (x. 9).

was composed. Mark ix. 42: "A millstone were put on his neck,"
But there are also other proofs. The text of St. ]\Iark changed to, "were himg about his neck" (xviii. 6).

has been taken into that of St. Matthew's Gospel, but Mark x. 17 :
" Sell all thou hast;" Matt. xix. 21, "all

not without some changes, corrections which the com- thy possessions."
piler made, thinking the words of the text in his Mark xii. 30 " : He took a woman ;" Matt. xxii. 25,
hands were redundant, vulgar, or not sufficiently ex- "he married."
plicit. But if it be evident that the author ofSt. Matthew's

Thus Mark i. 5 :
" The whole Jewish land and all Gospel laid under contribution the material used by St.
they of Jerusalem," he changed into, " Jerusalem and all Mark, it is also clear that he did not use St. Mark's
Judsea." Gospel as it stands. He had the fragmentary memo-
rabilia of which it was made up, or a large number of
1 For more examples, see Scholten, Das filteste Erangeliam, Elberfeld,
1869, pp. 66—78. them, but unarrauged. He sorted them and wove them
I 3
178 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.
in with the " Logia" written by St. Matthew, and afie,T-
wards, independently, without knowledge, probably, of
what had been done by the compiler of the first
St.Mark compiled his. Thus St. Matthew's is the first
Gospel in order of composition, though much of the
material of St. ]\Iark's Gospel was written and in circu-
lation first.
This will appear when we see how independently of
one another the compiler of St. Matthew and St. Mark
arrange their " memorabilia."
It is unnecessary to do more to illustrate this
take the contents of Matt. iv. —xiiL
According to
St. Matthew, after the Sermon on the
Mount, Christ heals the leper, then enters Capernaum,
where he receives the prayer of the centiirion, and
forthwith enters into Peter's house, where he cures the
mother-in-law, and the same night crosses the sea.
But according to St. Mark, Christ cast out the unclean
spirit hi the synagogue at Capernaum, then healed
Peter's wife's mother, and, not the same night but long
after, crossed the sea. On his return he went through
the villages preaching, and then healed the leper.
The accounts are the same, but the order is altogether
different. The deutero-]\Iatthew must have had the
material used by Mark under his eye, for he adopts it
into his narrative; but he cannot have had St.
Gospel, or he would not have so violently disturbed the
order of events.
The compUer has been guilty of an inaccuracy in the
use of " Gergesenes" instead of Gadarenes. St.
right. Gadara was situated near the river Hieromax,
east of the Sea of Galilee, over against Scythopolis and
Tiberias, and capital of Pera;a. This agrees exactly with
what is said in the Gospels of the miracle performed
GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 179
in the " country of the Gadarenes." The swine rushed
violently down a steep place and perished in the lake.
Gospel, Jesus had come from the N.W. shore of the Sea to
Gadara in the S.E. But the country of the Gergesenes
can hardly be the same as that of the Gadarenes. Ge-
rasa, the capital, was on the Jabbok, some days' journey
distant from the lake. The deutero-Matthew was there-
fore ignorant of the topography of the neighbourhood
whence Levi, that is Matthew, was called.
St. Mark says that Christ healed one demoniac in the
than to synagogue of Capernaum, then crossed the lake, and
healed the second in Gadara. But St. Matthew, or
rather the Greek compiler of St. Matthew's Gospel, has
fused tliese two events into one, and makes Christ heal
both possessed men in the country of the Gergesenes.
In like manner we have twice the heaUng of two blind
men (ix. 27 and xx. 30), whereas the other evangelists
know of only single blind men being healed on both
occasions. How comes this 1 The compiler had two
accounts of each miracle of healing the blind, slightly
varying. He thought they referred to the same occa-
sion,but to different persons, and therefore made Christ
heal two men, whereas he had given sight to but one.
In the former case the compiler had not such a cu--
cumstantial account of the restoration to sound mind of
Mark's the demoniac in the synagogue as St. Mark had received
from St. Peter. He knew only that on the occasion of
i Christ's visit to the Sea of Tiberias he had recovered
i.
two men who were possessed, and so he made the heal-
* '
Mark is infr of both take place simultaneously at the same spot.
An equally remarkable instance of the fact that St.
Matthew's Gospel was made up of fragmentary "recol-
lections by various eye-witnesses, is that of the dumb
"
man possessed with a devil, in ix. 32. At Capernaum,
180 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 181

after having restored Jairus' daughter to life and healed

the two blind men, the same day the dumb man is
brought to The devil is cast
liim. out, the dumb speaks,
and the Pharisees say, " He casteth out devils through
the prince of the devils."
This is exactly the same account -which has been used
by St. Luke (xi. 14). But in xii. 22 we have the same
incident over again. There is brought unto Christ one
possessed with a devil, blind and dumb; him Christ
heals whereupon the Pharisees say, " This feUow doth
;

not cast out devils but by Beelzebub the prince of the

devils." Then follows the solemn warning against blas-
phemy.
Greek compiler of St. Matthew's
It is clear that the
Gospel must have had two independent accounts of this
miracle, one with the warning against blasphemy ap-
pended to it, the other without. He gives both accounts,
one as occurring at Capernaum, the other much later,
after Jesus had gone about Galilee preaching, and the
Pharisees had conspired against him.
St. Matthew says that after the healing of Peter's
wife's mother, Jesus, that same evening, cured many
sick,and in the night crossed to the country of the Ger-
gesenes. But St. Mark says that he remained that night
at Capernaum, and rose early next morning before day,
and went into a solitary place. According to him, this
crossing over the sea did not occur till long after.

The following table will show how remarkably dis-

cordant is the arrangement of events in the two evangels.
The order of succession differs, but not the events and
teacliing recorded ; surely a proof that both writers com-
posed these Gospels out of similar but fragmentary ac-
counts available to both. The following table will show
this disagreement at a glance.
182 LOST PETRINE GOSPKLS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 183

24. Mother and brethren seek 16. Sends out the Twelve (vi. 7- therefore led by the comparison of the order in which
Jesus (46—50). 13).
events in our Lord's life by St.
are related Matthew and
25. Teaches from the ship ;
parable
of sower (juii. 1 — 12).
St.Mark, to the conclusion, that the author of the first
(Returns to his own conntry), 53. Gospel as it stands had not St. JIark's Gospel in its
complete form before him wlien he composed his record.
The order ia St. Luke is again difierent. Jesus calls We have yet another proof that this was so.

Levi, chooses the Twelve, preaches the sermon on the St. ]\Iatthew's Gospel is not so full in its account of
plain, heals the Centurion's servant, goes then from place some incidents in our Lord's life as is the Gospel of St.
to place preaching. Then occurs the storm on the lake, Mark.
and after having healed the demoniac Jesus returns to The compiler of the first Gospel has shown through-
Capernaum, cures the woman with the bloody flux, raises out his work the greatest anxiety to insert every particu-

Jairus' daughter and sends out the Twelve. lar he could gather relating to the doings and sayings of

In the Gospel of St. Mark, the parable of the sower is Jesus. This has led him into introducing the same event

spoken on " the same day " on which, in the evening, or saying over a second time if he found more than one

Jesus crosses the lake in a storm. version of it Had he all the material collected in St
In the Gospel of St. ]\Iatthew, this parable is spoken Mark's Gospel at his disposal, he would not have omitted
long after, on " the same day " as his mother and bre- any of it
tlireu seek him, and this is after he has been in the
But we do not find in St Matthew's Gospel the fol-
country of the Gadareues, has returned to Capernaum, lowing passages
gone about Galilee preaching, come back again to Caper-
—
Mark iv. 26 29, the parable of the seed springing
up, a type of the growth of the Gospel without further
naum, but has been driven away again by the conspiracy
labour to the minister than that of spreading it abroad.
of the Pharisees.
would appear from an examination of the two Gos-
It
The meaning of this parable is different from that in

pels that articles 23, 24 and 25 composed one document,

Matt xiL 24 —30, and therefore the two parables are not
tobe regarded as identical.
for both St. Matthew and St. Mark used it as it is, in a
block, only they differ as to where to build it in.
viii. 22
Mark —
26. By omitting the narrative of what
took place at Bethsaida, an apparent gap occurs in the
19, 20and 21 formed another block of Apostolic
Memorabilia, and was built in by the deutero-Matthew
account of St Matthew after xvi. 4 — 12. The journey
5 and 6, and across the sea leads one to expect that Christ and his
in one place and by St. Mark in another.
smaller compound recollections disciples will land somewhere on the coast But Mat-
a^ain 9 and 10, were
Matthew's Gospel and St. thew, without any mention of a landing at Betlisaida,
which the compiler of St.
On the other translates Jesus and the apostolic band to Coesarea
Mark obtained in their concrete forms.
Philippi. But in Mark, Jesus and his disciples land at
hand, 3 and 10 formed recollections consisting of but
Bethsaida, and after having performed a miracle of heal-
one member, and are thrust into the narrative where the
two compilers severally thought most suitabla We are —
ing there on a blind man a miracle, the particulars of
 184 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.

. which are very full

and interesting they go on foot to —
Csesarea PhUippi (viLL 27). That the compiler of the
first Gospel should have left tliis incident out delibe-

rately is not credible.

Mark 38, 39. In St. Matthew's collection of the
ix.

Logia of our Lord there existed probably the saying of

Christ, " He that is not with me is against me " (Matt
xiL 30). St. Mark narrates the circumstances which
called forth this remark. But the deutero-Matthew
evidently did not know of these circumstances ; he
therefore leaves the sa3dng in his record without ex-
planation.^
Mark xiL 41 — 44. The beautiful story of the poor
widow throwing her two mites into the ti-easiury, and
our blessed Lord's commendation of her charity, is not
to be found in St. Matthew's Gospel. Is it possible that
he could have omitted such an exquisite anecdote had
he possessed it ?
Mark
xiv. 51, 52. The account of the young man fol-
lowing, having the linen cloth cast about his naked body,
who, when caught, left the linen cloth in the hands of
his captors and ran off naked an account which so —
unmistakably exhibits the narrative to have been the
record of some eye-wdtness of the scene, is omitted in
St Matthew. On this no stress, however, can be laid
The deutero-Matthew may have thought the incident
too unimportant to be mentioned.

1 Mark iz. 37 —60 is another instance of difference of order of njinga

between bim and St. Matthew.
With Mark iz. 37 corresponds Matt. x. 40.
186 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. OOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 187
:i
John"(xL 1—15). "Second day in the third week of with certainty ; but every consideration leads us to sus-
the Fast" (16—24).
pect thatit grew up simultaneously with the constitution
To these fragmentary records St. Luke
aUudes when f of the Church. With the Church of the Hebrews this
he says that "many had taken in hand
to arrange in a was unquestionably the case. The Jews who believed
consecutive account (duard^a^dai
Si^y^o-.v) those" things had grown up under a system of fasts and festivals
wluch were most fully beUeved" amongst
the faithful in regular series, and, aswe know, they observed these
These he "traced up from the beginning
accurately one even after they were believers in Christ. Paul, who
after another" (n-ap,,KoAov0,Ko'ri
ivu,efy wSitny dKpipSis broke with the Law in so many points, did not venture
•ca^e^^s)- Here we have clearly the existence of records to dispense with its sacred cycle of festivals. He hasted
disconnected originaUy, which many strung
together in to Jerusalem to attend the feast of Pentecost.* At
consecutive order, and St. Luke takes pains,
as he tells Ephesus, even, he observed it.* St. Jerome assures us
us, to make this order chronological
that Lent was instituted by the apostles.' The Apostolic
Some Churches had certain Memorabilia, others had a Constitutions order the observance of the Sabbath, the
different set. That of Antioch had the recollections of Lord's-day, Pentecost, Christmas, Epiphany, the days of
St. Peter, that of Jerusalem the recollections of
St. James, the Apostles, that of St. Stephen, and the anniversaries
St. Simeon and St. Jude. St. Luke indicates the source of the Martyrs.* Indeed, the observance of the Lord's-
whence drew his account of the nativity and early
lie
day, instituted probably by St. Paul, involves the prin-
years of the Lord,— the recollections of St. Mary, which would include all other sacred commemo-
the ciple
Virgin Mother, communicated to him orally. He speaks rations for if one day was to be set apart as a memorial'
;

of the Blessed Virgin as keeping the tilings that hap- of the resurrection, it is probable that others would be
pened in her heart and pondering on them.* Another observed in memory of the nativity, the passion, the
time it is contemporaries, Mary certainly included.'' On ascension, &c.
both occasions it is in reference to events connected As early as there was any sort of ecclesiastical year
with our Lord's infancy. Why did he thus insist on her observed, so early would the "Memorabilia" of the
having taken pains to remember these things ? Surely apostles be arranged as appropriate to these seasons.
to show whence he drew his information. He narrates But such an arrangement would not be chronological
these events on the testimony of her word; and her therefore many took in hand, as St. Luke tells us, to
word be relied on ; for these tilings, he assures
is to us, correct this, and he took special care to give the succes-
\yere deeply impressed on her memory. sion of events as they occurred, not as they were read,
The Memorabilia " in use in the different Churches
" by obtaining information from the best sources available.
founded by the apostles would probably be strung toge- It is probable that the "Eecollections" of St. Peter,
ther in such order as they were generally read. How written in disjointed notes by St. Mark, were in circu-
early the Church began to have a regulated order of lation through many Churches before St. Mark composed

seasons, an ecclesiastical year, cannot be ascertained > * 1 Cor. xvi. 8.

Acta XI. 16.
' Luke ii. 19, 61. * Luke L 66. ' Epist. xxTii. ad Marcellam. * Apost. ConBt. riii. 33.

'"'l'
188 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBnEWS. 189

hia Gospel out of them. From Autioch to Rome they

4. To the fourth category belong chapters i. and ii,

were read at the celebration of the divine mysteries; iiL 3, xiv. 15, the redaction of iv. 12, 13, 14, 15, v. 1, 2,

and some of them, found in the Churches of Asia Minor, 19, viL 22, 23, viii. 12, 17, x. 5, 6, xL 2, xii. 17—21,
have been taken by St. Luke into his Gospel. Others xiiL 35 — 43, 49, 50, the redaction of xiv. 13ffl, xiv.

circulating in Palestine were in the hands of the deutero- 28—31, XV. 24, xvii. 246—27, xix. 17a, 196, 28, xx. 16,

Matthew, and grafted into his compilation. But as St. xxi. 2, 7, xxi. 4, 5, xxiii. 10, 13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29, 35,

Luke, St. Mark, and the composer of the first Gospel, acted the redaction of xxi v. 3, 20, 516, xxv. 306, xxvi 2, 15,

independently, their chronological sequences differ. Their 25, xxvii. 51 — 53, xxvii 62 — 66, xxviii. la, 2 — 4, 8, 9,

Gospels are three kaleidoscopic groups of the same pieces.^ 11—15.

Had St. Matthew any other part in the composition
Was this taken from a collection of the recollections

of the Canonical Gospel than contributing to it his

first
of St. Matthew, and the series 3 from another set of
" Syntax of the Lord's Sayings"? Apostolic Memorabilia ? That it is not possible to
Of that we can say
nothing for certain. It is possible enough that many decide.
Into the reasons which have led to this separation of
of the " doings" of Jesus contained in the Gospel may
be memorabilia of St. Mattliew, circulating in anecdota. the component parts 3, 4, the peculiarities of diction

A
critical examination of St. Matthew's Gospel re-
which serve to distinguish them, we cannot enter here
it would draw us too far from the main object of our
veals four sources whence it was drawn, three threads
inquiry.^
of different texture woven into one. These are
1. The "Memorabilia" of St. Peter, used afterwards
The theory that the Synoptical Gospels were com-
posed of various disconnected materials, variously united
by St Mark. These the compiler of the first Gospel •r I

into consecutive biographies, was accepted by Bishop

attached mechanically to the rest of his material by
Marsh, and it is the only theory which relieves the
such formularies as " in those days," " at that time,"
" then," " after that," " when he had said these things." theologian from the unsatisfactory obligation of making
" harmonies " of the Gospels. If we adopt the received
2. The " Logia of the Lord," composed by St. Mattliew.
popular conception of the composition of the Synoptical
3. Another series of sayings and doings, from whicli

the following passages were derived : iii. 7 — 10, 12, iv.

Gospels, we are driven to desperate shifts to fit them
together, to reconcile their discrepancies.
3—11, viii. 32—34, xi. 2—19. Some of
19—22, ix. 27,
The difficulty, the impossibility, of effecting such a
these were afterwards used by St. Luke.^ Were these
harmony of the statements of the evangelists was felt
by St. Matthew ? It is possible.
' Ct Scholten : Eyangelium ; Elberfeld, 1869.
Das alteste See also
on Mark's Gospels, Bannier Ueber der Quellen
Matthew's and St.
'
St Luke, however, has mnch that wa« not available to the dentero- St. :

Matthew, and St. Mark rigidly confined himself to the use of St. Peter'g des Evang. Marc, Berlin, 1825 ; De Wette Lehrb. d. Hist. Krit. Einleit.
:

recollections only. in d. N.T., Berl. 1848; Baur: Der Urspmng der Synop. Evang., Stuttg.
1843 ; KiiBtlin : Das Markns Evang., Leipz. 1850; Wilke: Der Urevang.,
* St. Luke'B Gospel contains Hebraisms, yet he was not a Jew (Col. iv. Matt., Leiden,
Dresd. 1838; Efiville: Etudes sur I'Evang. selon St.
11, 14). This can only be accounted for by his nsing Aramaic texts which
1862, &c
he translated. From these the Acta of the Apostles are free.
190 LOST PETRINB GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. 191

by the early Christian -vmtera. Origen says that the imion of infallibility in that which
is of supreme impor-

attempt to reconcile them made him giddy. Among I

tance, and of which concerns not sal-
fallibility in that

the writings of Tatian was a Diatessaron, or harmony of vation. The lenses through which the light of the world

the Gospels. Eusebius adventured on an explanation shone to remote ages were human scribes liable to error.
"of the discords of the Evangelists." St. Ambrose
Gcia vavra Kal dvOpwTnva Travra, was the mottO Tholuck

exercised his pen on a concordance of St. Matthew with inscribed on his copy of the Sacred Oracles.

St. Luke ; St. Augustine wrote " De consensu Evange- Having established the origin of the Gospel of St
listarum," and in
his effort to force them into agree- Matthew, we are able now to see our way to establish-
ment was driven to strange suppositions as that when — ing that of the Gospel of the Twelve, or Gospel of the
our Lord went through Jericho there was a blind man Hebrews.
by the road-side leading into the city, and another by No doubt it also was a mosaic made out of the
the road-side leading out of it, and that both were healed same materials as the Gospel of St. Matthew. There
under very similar circumstances. subsisted side by side in Palestine a Greek-speaking

Apollinaris, in the famous controversy about Easter, and an Aramaic-speaking community of Christians, the
declared that it was irreconcilable with the Law that one composed of proselytes from among the Gentiles,
Christ should have suffered on the great feast-day, as the other of converts from among the Jews. This
related by St. Matthew, but that the Gospels disagreed Gentile Church in Palestine was scarcely influenced by
among themselves on the day upon which he sufl'ered.^ St. Paul it was under the rule of St.
; Peter, and there-
The great Gerson sought to remove the difficidties in a fore was more united to the Church at Jerusalem in
" Concordance of the Evangelists," or " Monotessaron." habits of thought, in religious customs, in reverence

Such an admission as that the Synoptical Gospels for theLaw, than the Churches of " Asia " and Greece.
were composed in the manner I have pointed out, in no There was no antagonism between them. There was,
way affects their incomparable value. They exhibit to on the contrary, close intercourse and mutual sympathy.
us as in a mirror what the apostles taught and what Each community, probably, had its own copies of
their disciples believed. Faith does not depend on the Apostolic Memorabilia, iiot identical, but similar. Some
of the " recollections " were perhaps written only in
chronological sequence of events, but on the verity of
" See !" exclaimed Chrysostom, " how Aramaic, or only in Greek, so that the collection of one
those events. St.

through the contradictions in the evangelical history

community may have beeii more complete in some par-
main facts trans- ticulars than the collection of the other. The necessity
in minor particulars, the truth of the
to consolidate these Memorabilia into a consecutive nar-
pires, and the trustworthiness of the authors is made
!" rative became obvious to both communities, and each
manifest
composed " in order" the scraps of record of our Lord's
In everything, both human and divine, there is an
sayings and doings they possessed and read in their sacred
* Chron. FaBcbale, p. 6, ed. Dacange. TfSt /ifyaXij t'lfiipf tUv aZv(n>>v
mysteries. St. Matthew's " Logia of the Lord" was used
airos iiraOiv, raJ tttiyovvrai MarOaiov o^bi \iytiV '66iv iavfi^wvos,
liayytKla.
in the compilation of the Hebrew Gospel; one of the
rf vofiif >/ i>di}<ri£ aiiTuv, cai oraaial^iiv loKoiv xar' airoi'S rti
192 LOST PEXniNE GOSPELS.

translations of it, which, according to Papias, were

numerous, formed the basis also of the Greek Gospel.
The material used by both communities, the motive
actuating both communities, were the same the results
;

were consequently similar. That they were not abso-

II.
lutely identical was the consequence of their having
been compiled independently.
THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL.
Thus the resemblance was sufficient to make St, Je-
rome suppose the Hebrew Gospel to be the same as the We have now considered aU the fragments of the
Greek first Gospel nevertheless, the differences were as
;
Gospel of the Hebrews that have been preserved to us
great as has been pointed out in the preceding pages. in tlie writings of Justin Martyr, Origen, Jerome and
Epiphauius.
But there is another storehouse of texts and re-
ferences to a Gospel regarded as canonical at a very
early date by the Nazarene or Ebionite Church. This
storehouse is that curious collection of the sayings and
doings of St. Peter, the Clementine Recognitions and
Homilies.
That the Gospel used by the author or authors of tlie
Clementines was that of the Hebrews cailnot be shown;
but it is probable that it was so.
The Clementines were a production of the Judaizing
party in the Primitive Church, and it was this party
which, we know, used the Gospel of the Twelve, or of
the Hebrews.
The doctrine in the Clementine Eecognitions and Ho-
mUies bears close relations to that of the Jewish Essenes.
The sacrificial system of the Jewish Church is rejected.
It was not part of the revelation to Moses, but a tradition
of the elders.^
Distinction in meats is an essential element of reli-

gion. Through unclean meats devils enter into men,

and produce disease. To eat of unclean meats places
men in the power of evU spirits, who lead them to
' Homil. iii. 45.

K
194 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 195

idolatryand all kinds of -wickedness. So long as men " Those who have chosen the blessings of the future
abstain from these, so long are the devils powerless kingdom have no right to regard the things here as
against them.^ their own, since they belong to a foreign king (i.e. the

The observance of times is also insisted on —times at prince of this world), with the exception only of water
which the procreation of children is lawful or unlawful and bread, and those things procured by the sweat of
and disease and death result from neglect of this dis- the brow, necessary for
tlie maintenance of life, and also

tinction. " In the beginning of the world men lived one garment."^
long, and had no diseases. But when through careless- Thus St. Peter is represented as living on water, bread
ness they neglected the observance of the proper times and olives, and having but one cloak and tunic.^ And
.... they placed their children under innumerable Hegesippus, as quoted by Eusebius, describes St. James,
afflictions."^ It is this doctrine that is apparently com- firstbishop of Jerusalem, as " drinking neither wine
bated by St. Paul.' He relaxes the restraints which nor fermented liquors, and abstaining from animal food.
Nazarene tradition imposed on marital intercourse. A razor never came upon his head, he never anointed
The rejection of sacrifices obliged the Nazarene Church himself with oil, and never used a bath. He never wore
to discriminate between what is true and false in the woollen, but linen garments."^
Scriptures ; and, with the Essenes, they professed liberty The Ebionites looked upon Christ as the Messiah
to judge the Scriptures and reject what opposed their rather than as God incarnate. They gave him the title
ideas. Thus they refused to acknowledge that " Adam of Son of God, and claimed for him the highest honour,
was a transgressor, Noah drunken, Abraham guilty of but hesitated to term him God. In their earnest main-
having three wives, Jacob of cohabiting with two sisters, tenance of the Unity of the Godhead against Gnosticism,
Moses was a murderer," &c.* they shrank from appearing to divide the Godhead.
The moral teaching of the Clementines is of the most Thus, in the Clem(yitines, St. Peter says, " Our Lord
exalted nature. Cliastity is commended in a glowing, neither asserted that there were gods except the Creator

eloquent address of St. Peter.^ Poverty is elevated into of nor did he proclaim himself to be God, but he
all,

an essential element of virtue. Property is, in itself, an pronounced him blessed who called him the Son of that
i\
evil " To us possessions are sins. The depriva-
all of God who ordered the universe."*

tion of these is the removal of sins."

" To be saved, no
one should possess anything but since many have pos-
;
sessions, or, in other words, sins, God
The Ebionitism of the Clementines is controversial
It was placed face to face with Gnosticism. Simon
sends, in love, Magus, the representative of Gnosticism, as St. Peter is

afflictions .... that those with possessions, but yet the representative of orthodoxy, in the Kecognitions and

having some measure of love to God, may, by temporary Homilies, contends that the God of the Jews, the De-
inflictions, be saved from eternal punishments."'
miurge, the Creator of the world, is evU. He attempts
« Homil.
to prove this by showing that the world is full of pain
» Homil. ix. 9—12. xix. 22.

» Gal. IT. 10. « Homil. ii. 38, 60, 62.

• Homil. XT. 7. ' Homil. xii. 6. •

» Homil. xiii. 13—21. ' Homil. IV. 9 ; see also 7. » Hist Eccl. ii. 23. * Homil. xtI. 15.
k2
198 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 199

preface. He found that the copies of the book he had no sympathy. To believe in the mission of Christ is, in
from one another in some particulars. Portions
differed the Clementine Homilies, to become a Jew. The con-
which he could not understand hd omitted. There is vert from Gentiledom by passing into the Church passes
reason to suspect that he altered such quotations as he under the Law, becomes, as we are told, a Jew. But the
found in it from the Gospel used by the author, and convert is made subject not to the Law as corrupted by
brought them, perhaps unconsciously, into closer con- the traditions of the elders, but to the original Law as
formity to the received text.
In examining the Gospel re-proclaimed by Christ.
employed by the author of the Clementines, we must The author of the Recognitions twice makes St. Peter
therefore trust chiefly to those texts quoted in the say that the only difference existing between him and
Homilies. the Jews is in the manner in which they view Christ.
Various opinions exist as to the date of the Clemen- To the apostles he is the Messiah come in humility, to
tines. They have been attributed to the first, second, come again in glory. But the Jews deny that the Mes-
thirdand fourth centuries. If we were to base our siah was to have two manifestations, and therefore reject
arguments on the work as it stands, the date to be Christ.*

assigned to it is the first half of the third century.
passage from the Eecognitionsis quoted by Origen in
hisCommentary on Genesis, written in A.D. 231 and
mention is made in the work of the extension of the
jRoman franchise to all nations under the dominion of
Home, an event which took place in the reign of Cara-
calla (A.D. 211). The Recognitions also contain an
extract from the work De Fato, ascribed to Bardesanes,
but which was reaUy written by one of his scholars.
A Although we cannot rely on the exact words of the
quotations from the Gospel in the " Recognitions," there
;
are references to the history of our Lord which give in-
dications of narratives contained in the Gospel used by
the pseudo-Clement, therefore by the Ebionite Christians
whose views he represents. We wiU go through all
such passages in the order in which they occur in the
" Recognitions."
The first allusion to a text parallel to one in the Ca-

But it has been thought, not without great probability, nonicsd Gospels is this : " Not only did they not believe,

that this passage did not originaUy belong to the Recog- but they added blasphemy to unbelief, saying he was a
nitions, but was thrust into the text about the middle of gluttonous man and slave of his belly, and that he was
the third century.^ influenced by a demon." * The parallel passage is in St.

I have already pointed out the fact that the Church Matthew xL 18, 19. It is curious to notice that in the

in the Clementines is never called "Christian;" that the Recognitions the order is Matthew,
inverted. In St.

word is never employed. It belonged to the community

" they say. He hath a deviL .... They
say, Behold a

established by Paul, and with it the Church of Peter had man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber;" and that the term
" wine-bibber " is changed into " slave of his belly."
^ Merx, Bardesanes von Edessa, Halle, 1863, p. 113. That the "Re- Probably therefore in this instance the author of the
oognitioni " hare under^gone interpolation at different timea ii clear from

Book iii., where ehapteta 2 —12 are foand in acme copies, bat not in the > Secog. L 43, 60. » Ihid. L 40.

best MS3.

^'tfi
 200 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.
THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 201
Clementines borrowed from a different text
from St.
Matthew. how potent was that ointment extracted hy God from a
In the very next chapter the Recognitions branch of tlie Tree of Life, when that which was made
approaches
St. Matthew closer than tlie lost Gospel. by men could confer so excellent dignities among men."
For in the
account of the crucifixion said that " the veil of the
it is Here we have trace of an apparent myth relating to
Temple was rent," whereas the Gospel of the
Hebrews
the unction of Jesus at his baptism. Was there any
stated that the lintel of the Temple had fallen. passage to this effect in the Hebrew Gospel translated
But
here I suspect we have the hand of Ilufinus the
trans-
by St. Jerome ? It is hard to believe it. Had there
lator. We
can understand how, finding in the text an been, we might have expected him to allude to it.

inaccuracy of Quotation, as he supposed, lie altered But that there was some unction of Christ mentioned
it.
The next passage relates to tlie resurrection. "For in the early Gospels, I think is probable. If tliere were
some of them, watching the place with all care, when not, how name of Christ,
did Jesus, so early, obtain the
they could not prevent his rising again, said the Anointed One ? That name was given to him before
that he 2vas
a magician; others pretended that he was stolen away."i his divinity was wholly believed in, and when he was
The Canonical Gospels say nothing about this difference regarded only as the Messiah —nay,
even before tlie
of opinion among the Jews, but St. Matthew apostles and disciples him anything
had begun to see in
states that
it was commonly reported among them higher than a teacher sent from God, a Eabbi founding a
that his disciples
liad stolen his body away. Not a word about any sus- new school. It is more natural to suppose that the siu--
picion that he had exercised witchcraft, a charge name of the Anointed One was given to him because of
which
we know from Celsus was brought against Christ later. some event in his life with which they were acquainted,
The next passage is especially curious. It relates to than because they applied to him prophecies at a time
the unction of Christ. " He was the Son of when certainly they had no idea that such prophecies
God, and
the beginning of were spoken of him.
all things ; he became man ; hivi God 'I
anointed with If some anointing did really accompany the baptism,
oil that ivas taken from
wood of the the
Tree of Life; and from this anointing he is called then one can understand the importance attached to the
Christ."^ Then St. Peter goes on to argue: " In tlie baptism by the Elkesaites and other Gnostic sects and ;

pre-
sent life, Aaron, the first high-priest, was anointed with
V <: how they had some ground for their doctrine that Jesus

a composition of chrism, which was made after the pat- became the Christ only on his baptism. It is remark-
able that, according to St. John's Gospel, it is directly
tern of that spiritual ointment of wliich we have spoken
before .... But if any one else was anointed with
after the baptism that Andrew teUs his brother Simon,

the same ointment, as deriving virtue from

"We have found the Messias, which is . . the Anointed."^
he became it,
Twice in the Acts Jesus spoken of as the Anointed
is
either king, or prophet, or priest. If, then, this temporal
grace, compounded by men, had such efficacy, consider
"Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed."^
I The second occasion is remarkable, for it again appa-
> Bccog. L 42. Ibid. 46. rently associates the anointing with the baptism.
» John i. 41. ' Acts iv. 27.

K 3
202 LOST PETBINB GOSPELS. THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 203

St. Peter "opened his mouth and said .... The word Clementines an account of our Lord, after his anointing,
which God sent unto the children of Israel .... that entering into the Temple and extinguishing the altar
fires.
word ye know, which was published throughout all
Judaea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which In St. John's Gospel, on which we may rely for the

John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth chronological sequence of events with more confidence

with the Holy Ghost and with power." ^ I do not say than we can on the Synoptical Gospels, the casting of the

that such an anointing did take place, but that it is pro- money-changers out of the Temple took place not long
bable it did. When Gnosticism fixed on this anointing after the baptism. In St. Matthew's account it took
as the communication to Christ of his divine mission
place at the close of tlie ministry, in the week of the

and Messiahship, then mention of was cut out of the

it
Passion. That this exhibition of his authority marked
the opening of his three years' ministry ratlier than the
Gospels in possession of the Church, and consequently
close is most probable, and then it was, no doubt, that
the Canonical Gospels are without it to this day. But
he extinguished the fires on the altar, according to the
the Christian ceremonial of baptism, which was founded
main- Gospel used by the author of the Clementines. Whether
on what took place at the baptism of the Lord,
this incident occurred in the Gospel of the Hebrews it
tained this unction as part of the sacrament, in the
is not possible to say.
Eastern Church never to be dissociated from the actual
baptism, but in the Western Church to be separated
We are told that "James and John, the sons of

from it and elevated into a separate sacrament Confir- — Zebedee, had a

cities {i. e.
command .... not to enter into their
the cities of the Samaritans), nor to bring the
mation.
Hebrew Gospel there was men- word of preaching to them." ^And when our Master
"
But if in the original
sent us forth to preach, he commanded us, But into
tion of the anointing of Jesus at or after his baptism, as
whatsoever city or house we should enter, we should
I contend probable, this mention did not include an
is
say. Peace be to this house. And if, said he, a son of
account of the oil being expressed from the branch of
peace be there, your peace shall come upon him ; but if
the Tree of Life ; that is a later addition, in full agree-
there be not, your peace shall return unto you. Also,
ment with the fantastic ideas which were gradually per-
that going from house to city,we should shake off upon
meating and colouring Judaic Christianity.
them the very dust which adhered to our feet. But it
After the baptism, " Jems put out, by the grace of
shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and
baptism, that fire which the priest kindled for sins; for,
Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for that city or
from the time when he appeared, the chrism has ceased,
house."^ The Gospel of the Clementines, it is plain,
by which the priesthood or the prophetic or the kingly
more ex- contained an account of the sending forth of the apostles
office was conferred.'"^ The Hbmilies are
There was almost identical with that in St. Matthew, x.
plicit : put out the fire on the altars."
" He ^
"And .... Jesus himself declared that John was
therefore in the Gospel used by the author of the
* Becog. 48.
» Acts X. 34—38. i. c.
Becog. i. c. 57. ' Ihid. ii. 30, also ii, 3.

• Jtvp fiiifiiitv lapivwaiv, HomU. iii. 26.

204 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 205

greater than all men and all the prophets." ^ The corre- opened."* The key of knowledge occurs oiJy in St.
sponding passage is in St. Matthew." Luke's Gospel. Had the author of the Clementines any
Tlie Beatitudes, or some of them, were in it. " He knowledge of that Gospel ? I do not think or we
so,
said, Blessed are the poor; and promised eartlily rewards; should find other quotations from St. Luke. St. Matthew
and promised that those who maintain righteousness says, " Woe unto you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites
shall be satisfied with meat and drink." ^ " Our Master, for ye shut up (KAetere) the kingdom of heaven." ^ St.
inviting his disciples to patience, impressed on thenl the Luke says, " Ye have taken away the key (jfiv KXttSa) of
blessing of peace, which was to be preserved with the knowledge." ' The author of the Clementines says, " Ye
" do not
labour of patience He charges (the believers) to have hidden the key," not taken away." I

have peace among themselves, and says to them. Blessed think, when the expression in St. Matthew suggests the
are the peacemakers, for they shall he called the very sons "key," that we need suppose tliat the author of the
of God."* " The Father, whom only those can see who Eecognitions quoted from St. Luke ; rather, I presume,

are pure in heart"^ Again strong similarity with slight from his own Gospel, which in this passage resembled
difference. " He said, / am not corns to send peace on the words in St, Luke rather than those in St. Matthew,
earth, but a sword; and you shall see father
Jienceforth without, however, being exactly the same.*
from son, son from father, husband from wife,
separated " Every kingdom divided against itself shall not stand."
and wife from husband, mother from daughter, and, " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteou^sness,

daughter from motJur, brother from brotlier, father-in-law and all these things shall he added to you." ^ The writer
from davghtcr-in-lavj, friend from friend."^ This is knew, in the same terms as St. Matthew, our Lord's
sayings " Give not that vjhich is holy to dogs, neitJier
fuller than the corresponding passage in St. Matthew.^ :

" It is enough for the disciple to be as his master." ^ cast your pearls before sivine."'' " IVJiosoever shall look

"He mourned over those who lived in riches and luxury, upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultei-y
and bestowed nothing upon the poor; showing that they with her in his heart If thy right eye offend thee,

must render an account, because tliey did not pity their pluck it out, and cast it from thee ; for it is profUable for

neighbours, even when they were in poverty, whom they thee that one of thy members perish, rather than thy whole
^
ought to love as themselves."® "In like manner he body he cast into hell-fire."

charged the Scribes and Pharisees during the last period

30. * Matt. xxiii.l3.
• Recog. ii.
of his teaching .... with hiding the key of knowledge
» Lake xi. 52.
which they had handed down to them from Moses, by
* Recog. ii. c. 46 : "They must seek his kingdom and righteonsness
which the gate of the heavenly kingdom might be
which the Scribes and Pharisees, having received the key of knowledge,
have not shut in but shut out." The same Syro-Chaldaic expression has
* Recog. i. c. 60. » Matt. xi. 9, 11.
been variously rendered in Greek by St. Matthew and St. Luke. See
' Recog. i. c. 61, li. c. 28. * Ibid. ii. 27, 29.
Lightfoot : Horte Hebraicx in Luc. xi. 52.
> Ibid. ii. 22, 28. « Ibid. ii. 28, 32.
» ' Ibid. iii. 41, 37, 20.
Recog. ii. 31, 35.
^ Matt X. 34—36. » R«cog. ii. 27 ; Matt. x. 25.
' Ibid. iii. i. ' Ibid- ^- 37.
» Jbid. 29.
.:l
206 LOST PETRINB GOSPELS. THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 207

The woes denounced on the Scribes and Pharisees/ seudeth rain on the just and on the unjust." ^ Is it not
and the saying that the Queen of the South should "rise clear that either the pseudo-Clement condensed the di-
in judgment against this generation," * are given in the rection, " Love your enemies, them that curse you,
bless
Recognitions as in Matthew, as also that "the
St. do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that
liarvest is plenteous,"' man can serve two
"that no despitefully use you, and persecute you," into the brief
masters,"* and the saying on the power of faith to move maxim, " Be ye good and merciful," or that, and this is —
mountains.^ more probable, there were concurrent traditional ac-
We have the parables of the goodly pearl,' of the counts of our Lord's saying, and that St. Matthew, St.
marriage supper,^ and of the tares,^ but also that of the Luke, and the miter of the Gospel used by the pseudo-
sower,' which does not occur in St. Matthew, but in St Clement, made use of independent texts in their compi-
Luke. This therefore was found in the Gospel used by lations ?

the author of the Eecognitions. There are two other The next passage is a saying of our Lord on the cross,
apparent quotations from St. Luke " / have come to send
: which is given in the llecognitions " Fatlur, forgive :

fire on the earth, and how I wish that it were kindled

;^^ what they do."^ In the
them their sin, for they knoiv not
Greek " Father, forgive
and the story of the rich fool.^^ The first, however, is Homilies we have the original :

differently expressed from St. Luke. There are just two tliem their sins, for they know not what they do."'

more equally questionable quotations " Be ye merciful, : Rufinus has unconsciously altered the text in trans-
as also your heavenly Fatlier is merciful, who makes his
sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the
just and the unjust!' ^* We have the Greek in one of the
- Homilies." In St Luke it runs, " Be ye therefore mer-
ciful, as your Father also is merciful."" In St. Matthew,
" Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good
" singular instead of plural
lating it by making " sins
It is not necessary to note the insignificant difference
of theword a in the Homily and the word ri in the
Gospel But who cannot see that the addition of the
words, " their sins," completely changes the thought
of
the Saviour ? Jesus prays God to forgive the Jews
the

crime they commit in crucifying him, and not to pardon

to them that hate you, and pray for them that despite-
fully use you, and persecute you that ye may be the ; allthe sins of their lives that they have committed.
children of your Father which is in heaven: for he The addition of these two words not merely modify the
thought; they represent another of an inferior
order.
maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
would not have been introduced into the text if
They
' Recog. Ti. 11. « Ihid. Ti. 14.
the author of the Gospel used by the
pseudo-Clement
» lUd. IT. 4. * lUd. T. 9.
had had the Gospel of St. Luke before hun. These words
are due
» Ihid. T. 2. • Ihid. iii. 62. were certainly 'not derived from St. Luke; they
' Ihid. iT. 35. ' Ihid. iii. 38.
* Becog. vi. 5.
>•
» Matt. T. 44-46.
» Jhid. iiL 14. Ihid. Ti. 4.
a votovaiv.
• ndrtp a^EC avToiQ tAs afiapTlas avrSiv oiiyap olSaaiv
»» Ibid. X. 45. " Ihid. T. 13, iii. 38.
In St. Luke it runs, ninp a<ptg aurolc* oli yAp oiiam ri
Horn. xi. 20.
" Horn. iii. 57. " Luke Ti. 36. iroiovai. —Luke xxiiL 34.
208 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 209

to a separate recollection or traditiou of the sayings Pseudo-Clement, Horn. xi. 26.

of
the Saviour on the cross. Those sayings we may well "And Christ said (toith " 5. Jesus answered. Ve-

believe were cherished in the memory of the early dis- an oath),^ Verily I say unto rily, verily, I say unto thee,

ciples.
you, Unless ye are horn again Except a man be born of
Tradition always modifies, weakens, renders
of the water of life (in the water and spirit, he cannot
commonplace the noblest thoughts and most striking
name of the Father, and of enter into the kingdom of
sayings, and colours the most original with a tint of
the Son, and of the Holy God."
triviality.*
Ghost), ye cannot enter into
We
find in both the Recollections and Homilies a
the kingdom of heaven."
passage which has been thought to be a quotation from
St. John: " Verily T say unto you. That unless a man The fragment in the Homilies clearly belongs to the
is
lorn again of water, lie shall not ^nter into the kingdom same narrative as the fragment in Justin's Apology.
of heaven."^ Here, again, the hand of Rufinus Both are addressed in the second person plural, " Except
is to be
traced. The same quotation is made in the Homilies,
ye be born again ;" in the Gospel of St. John the first is,
" Except a man be born again ;" the second, " Except a
and it stands there thus I say unto you, Unless
:
" Ferily
ye he horn again of the water of life (or the living water) man be born of water and spirit;" both in the third
in tlie na7ne of the Father, and of the Son, and of the person singular. The form of the first answer in Justin
Holy Ghost, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven."^ differs from that in St. John: "he cannot enter the

Tliat the narrative of the interview kingdom," "he cannot see the kingdom."
with Nicodemus
was in the Gospel of the Hebrews, we learned from That these are independent accounts I can hardly
Justin Martyr quoting it. We will place the parallel doubt. The words, " in the name of the Father, and of
passages opposite each other the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," are an obvious interpo-
lation,perhaps a late one, in the text of the Homilies
for Bufinus would hardly haVe omitted to translate this,
OOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS. GOSPEL OF BT. JOHN,
though he did allow himself to make short verbal altera-
Justin Martyr, 1 ApoL 61. c. iii. 3, 5. tions.
" Christ said, Except ye " 3. Jesus answered and There is another apparent quotation from John in
St.
be horn again, ye cannot said unto him, Verily, verily, the fifth book of the Recognitions :
" Every one is made
enter into tJie kingdom of I say unto Except a
thee. the sei'vant of him to whom he yields subjection."^ But
heaven." man be horn again, he can- here again the quotation is very questionable. St. John's
not see the kingdom of God." version of our Lord's saying is, " Whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin." St. Paul is much nearer:
' M. Nicoks : Etades lur les EraDgilea ApociTplies, pp. 72, 73. " For
* Recognitions ri. 9 : thos hath the true prophet testified to ns
* Becog. vi. 9.
with an oath : Verily I say unto yon," &o. The oath is, of coarse, the
' 'A/i^v Xcyui v/iTi>, lav flit &vaytvvti9^Ti C^ari (wqc (» another place &iifiv.
'kftilv,
ii^art (uvri), ti'f ovofia irarpic, vlov xal aylov nvtvfiaroc, oi ftt^ .
* Becog. T. 13; John viii. 34.
ciVcXOqrE ci'f r^v PaaiKtiav tZv ovpav&v. —HomiL xL 26.
210 LOST PETKINE GOSPELS. THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 211

" Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves ser- were a quota-
writers. It would be extraordinary if this
vants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; author of the Recognitions nowhere quotes
tion, for the
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteous- from any Epistle, not even from those of St. Peter ; and
ness ?"i that he, an Ebionite, should quote St. Paul, whose
The quotation in the Eecognitions is not from St. Epistles the Ebionites rejected, is scarcely credible.
Paul, for the author expressly declares it is a saying of The Recognitions mention the temptation " : The
our Lord. Paul could not have had St. Jolin's Gospel
St. prince of wickedness .... presumed that he should
under his eye when he wrote, for that Gospel was not be worshipped by him by whom he knew that he was
composed till long after he wrote the Epistle to the to be destroyed. Therefore our Lord, confirming the
Komans. He gives no hint that he is quoting a saying Avoi-ship of one God, answered him, It is written. Thou
of our Ijord traditionally known to the Roman Christians. shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt
He apparently makes appeal to their experience when thou serve. And he, terrified by this answer, and fear-
he says, " Know ye not." Yet this fragment of an ing lest the true religion of the one and true God should
ancient lost Gospel in the Clementine Eecognitions be restored, hastened straightway to send forth into this
gives another colour to his words they may be para-
;
world false prophets and false apostles and false teachers,
phrased, " Know ye not that saying of Christ, To whom who should speak, indeed, in the name of Christ, but
ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye should accomplish the will of the demon." ^ Here we
are ?" It appears, therefore, that this is an earlier re- have Christ indicated as the one who was to restore
corded reminiscence of our Lord's saying than that of that true worship of God which Moses had instituted,

St. John. but which the Ebionites, with their Essene ancestors,
There is one, and only one, apparent quotation from asserted had been defaced and corrupted by false tradi-
St Paul in the Recognitions " In God's estimation, he
:
tions. And in opposition to this, the devil sends out
is not a Jew who is a Jew among men, nor is he a false apostles, false teachers, to undo this work, calling

Gentile that is called a Gentile, but he who, believing themselves, however, apostles of Christ. There can be
in God, law and does his will, though he be
fulfils his little doubt who is meant. The reference is to St. Paul,
not circumcised."* St. Paul's words are " He is not a : Silas,and those who accepted his views, in opposition
Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circum- to those of St. James and St. Peter.
cision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew ; In Homily xii. is a citation which seems to indicate
which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the
; the use of the third Canonical Gospel. At first sight it
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter." appears to be a combination of a passage of St. Matthew
There is no doubt a resemblance between these pas- and a parallel passage of St. Luke. It is preceded in
sages. But it is probable that the resemblance is due the Homily by a phrase not found in the Canonical
solely to community of thought in the minds of both Gospels, but which is given, together with what follows,

> Eom. tL 16. * Beeog. T. 34 ; Bom. ii. 28. 1 Eecog. ir. 34. The same in the Homilies, xi. 35.
212 LOST PETniNE GOSPELS. THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 213

as a declaration of the Saviour. The tliree passages are daughter as she asked. For she being a Gentile, and
placed side by side for comparison remaining in the same course of life, he would not
have healed her had she persisted to live as do the
noMiLT xii. 19. MATT, xviii. 7. LUKE xvii. 1.
Gentiles, on account of its not being lawful to heal a
" It must be that " It must needs " It is impossible Gentile."!
good things come, be that offences but that offences That the Ebionites perverted the words of our Lord
and happy is he by come; but woo to will come but woe
;
to make them support their tenets on distinction of
whom they come. that man by whom to him tlirough meats is obvious.
In like m^inner it the offence Com- whom they come." In the Clementine Homilies we have thrice repeated
must be that evil eth."
a saying of our Lord which we know of from St. Jerome
things come, hit
and St. Clement of Alexandria, who speak of it as un-
woe to him by whom
doubtedly a genuine saying of Christ, " Be ye good money-
they eome."^
changers."^
This text is used by the author of the Clementines
The passage in the Homily is more complete than
to prove the necessity of distinguishing between the
those in St. Matthew and St. Luke. The two Canonical
Evangelists made use of imperfect fragments destitute
gold and the dross in Holy Scripture. And to this he
adds the quotation, " Ye do therefore err, not knowing
of one member of the sentence. One cannot but wish
the true things of the Scriptures ; and, for this reason ye
to believe that our Lord pronounced a benediction on
are ignorant also of the power of God."^
those who did good in their generation.
"
The following are some more fragments from the
There is amongst us," says St. Peter iij his second
Clementine Homilies
Homily, " one Justa, a Syro-Phoenician, a Canaanite by
" He said, I am lie of whom Moses propJiesied-, saying,
race, whose daughter was oppressed with a grievous
disease. And she came to our Lord, crying out and
A prophet sJuUl the Lord your God raise unto you of your
brethren, like unto me : him hear ye in all things ; and
entreating that he would heal her daughter. But he,
whosoever will not hear the prophet shall die."* This
being asked by us also, said, '
It is not lawful to heal the
saying of Moses is quoted by both St. Peter and St.
Gentiles, are like unto dogs on account of their using
who
Stephen in their addresses, as recorded in the Acts.
various meats and practices, while tlie table in tJie kingdovi
It is probable, therefore, that our Lord had claimed this
has teen given to the sons of Israel.' But she, hearing
prophecy to have been spoken of him. But St Luke
this,and begging to partake as a dog of the crumbs that
had never heard that he had done so, as he makes no
fall from this table, having changed what she was (i.e.
allusion to it in his Gospel or in the speeches he puts in
having -given up the use of forbidden food), by living
the mouths of Peter and Stephen in the Acts.
like the sons of the kingdom, obtained healing for her
' Horn. ii. 19. » Ibid. iL 61.

> Td AyaOA l\9tiv ih, fuiKapioe ii Si oi Ipxtraf 8/ioib>c <c<i2 ^A kokA • Ibid. ii. 61, xviiL 20. * Ibid. ii. 53.

AvayKil IXOilv, obal Ik ti ov tpxtTat.

214 LOST PETUINE GOSPELS. THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 215

" It is thine, man, said he, to piwe my words, as from Luke we may be almost certain, for that Gospel
St.
silver and money are proved by the exchangers."^ was not received by the Judaizing Christians. When
" Give none occasion to the evil one."^ we examine the passages, the probability of their being
Twice repeated we have the text, " TJwu shall fear the quotations from the Canonical Gospels disappears.
Lord thy God, and him only shall thoxi sei-ve."^ We find, " He, the true Propliet, said, / am the gate of
In St. Matthew's Gospel (iv. 10) it runs, "Thou shalt life; lie that entcreth through entereth into life."^ me
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou The words in St. John's Gospel are, " I am the door : by
serve." me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." ^ The idea
In the Clementinea " He
alleged that it was right to
: is the same, but the mode of expression is different.

present to him who

you on one cheek the other
strikes " Again he said, My sheep hear my voice." '
also, and to give to him who takes away your cloak The quotation from St. Mark is too brief for us to be
your hood also, and to go two miles with him who able to form any well-founded opinion upon it. It is
compels you to go one."* This differs from the account this " But to those who were misled to imagine many
:

in St. Matthew, by using for the word xiTuva, " tunic," gods, as the Scriptures say, he said. Hear, Israel ; the
*
of the Canonical Gospel, the word fUK^opiov, " hood." Lord your God is otic Lord."
There are other passages identical with, or almost No prejudice would exist among the Ebionites against
identical with, the received text in St. Matthew's Gospel, the Gospel of St. Mark, but the Christology of the
which it is not necessary to enter upon separately. Johannine Gospel, its doctrine of the Logos, would not
They are: Matt. v. 3, 8, 17, 18, 34, 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, accord with their low views of Christ. The Ebionites
vi. 8, 13, vii. 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 21, viiL 11, 24, 25, 26, who denied the Godhead of Jesus could hardly acknow-
27, 28, 29, 30, 31, ix. 13, x. 28, 34, xi. 25, 27, 28, xii. 7, ledge as canonical a Gospel which contained the words,
26, 34, 42, xiii. 17, 39, xv. 13, xvi 13, 18, xix. 8, 17, "And the Word was with God, and the Word was
xxiL 2, 32, xxiii. 25, xxiv. 45, 46, 47, 48,49, 50, xxv. 41. God."
In all, some fifty-five verses, almost and often quite the HoM. xix- 22. John ix. 1 — 3.
same as in St. Matthew's GospeL "Our Maaterreplied to those "And as Jesus passed by,
There is just one text supposed to be taken from St. who asked him ^concerning he saw a man which was
Mark's Gospel, four from St. Luke's, and two from St. him that was bom blind, and blind from his birth.
John's. But I do not think we are justified in con- towhom he restored sight, if "And his disciples asked

cluding that these quotations are taken from the three itwas he or his parents who him, saying, Master, who did

last-named Canonical Gospels. That they are not taken had sinned, in that he was sin, this man, or his parents,
bom blind. It is not that he that he was bom blind ?

' Homil. ii. 61 ' Ihid. xix. 2. hath sinned in anywise, nor "Jesus answered. Neither
' Jhid. viii. 21. In the Hebrew K^TI, rendered by the LXX. ^oj3ii0^(nf. his parents ; hut in order that hath this man sinned, nor his
The word in St. Matthew ia irpoaKwriauc.
1 Homil. iii. 62. ' John X. 9.
* Ibid. XT. 6.
' Homil. iii. 52 ; cf . John x. 16. * Ibid. jiL 57 ; Mark xii. 29.
216 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. THE CLEJrENTINE GOSPEL. 217

the power of God may be ma- parents : but that the works parents, our Lord continues, "I must work the works of
nifested, who healeth sins of of God should be made mani- Him that sent me, while it is day the night cometb,
;
" 1
ignorance. fest in huu." when no man can work. As long as I am in the world,

The resemblance Nevertheless 1 do not

is strilcing.
I am the light of the world."

think we have
a right to conclude that this passage in
Put this last declaration in connection with the say-
the Clementine Homilies is necessarily a citation from
ing, " I am come to heal the sins of ignorance," and the
St. John.
connection of ideas is at once apparent. The blindness
The text quoted in connection with
of the man is symbolical of the ignorance of the world.
is tlie peculiar
Ebionite doctrine of seasons and days already alluded
"I am the light of the world, and I have come to dispel

to. "When our Lord says that he heals the sins of igno-
the darkness of the ignorance of the world." And so
saying, " he spat on the ground, and made clay of the
rance, he is made in the Clementine Gospel to assert
spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with
that the blindness of the man was the result of disregard
the clay."
by his parents of the new moons and sabbaths, not wil-
fully, but through ignorance. " The afflictions you men-
A few important words in Christ's teaching had
escaped tlie memory of St. John. But they had been
tioned," says St. Peter in connection with this quotation,
noted down by some other apostle, and the recollections
"are the result of ignorance, but assuredly not of wicked-
of the latter were embodied in the Gospel in use among
ness. Give me the man who sins not, and I will show
the Ebionites.
you the man who suffers not."
The texts resembling passages in St. Luke are four,
But though this is the interpretation put on the words
but all of them are found in St. Matthew's Gospel as
of our Lord by the Clementine Ebionite, it by no means
well
flows naturally from them; it is rather wrung out of " Blessed is that man v;ho7n his Lord shoM appoint to
them. ^
the ministry of his fellow-servants."
The words, I think, mean that the blindness of the
" The Queen of the South shall rise up with this genera-
man is symbolical ; its mystical meaning is ignorance.
tion, and shall condemn came from the
it ; because she
Our Lord by opening the eyes of the blind exhibits him-
extremities of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon
self as the spiritual enlightener of mankind. He is come
J;.
and behold, a greater than Solomon is here, and ye do not
to unclose men's eyes to the tnie light that he sheds
believe him.
abroad in the world. " Tlie men of Nineveh shall rise up vjith this generation
In St. John's Gospel, after having declared that blind-
and shall condevm it, for they heard and repented at tlie
ness was not the punishment of sin in the man or his
preaching of Jonas : and beJwld, a greater is here, and no
» fioui.. ix. 27. JoAV. ix. 3. one believes." ^
OBrt ouToc n H/iaprtv, ovn ol OSr€ oJroc ijfiaprtv, ovTt oi

Iva
airov yovtic abrov, aXX Iva ^avcpuOy
' HomiL iii. 64 ; cf. Lnke zii. 43, bat also Matt. xxiv. 46.
•yovtic avTov, <SXX' St

^avtputOy I) Svvapif tov etoC r^f Ta ipya tov St 5 Iv airip. » Jbid. li. 38 ; cf. Luke xi. 31, 32, but also Matt. xli. 42, 41. The

iyvoiac /u/xivi) tA aiiaprliiiaTa. order in Matt, reversed.

L
218 LOST PETRI5E GOSPELS.

The compiler of St. Matthew's Gospel had this striking

passage in an imperfect condition. St. Luke Iiad it with
both itsmembers. So had also the compiler of the
Clementine Gospel. The wording is not exactly identi-
cal with that in St. Luke, but the difference is not mate-
III.
rial. " Ye do not believe him," " And no one believes,"
exist ia the Ebionite, not in the Canonical text. THE GOSPEL OF ST. PETER.
"For witliout the vnll of God, Twt even a sparrow can
a gin. Thus even
fall into the hairs of the righteous are Serapion, Bishop of Antioch, in 190, on entering his
numbered by God." ^ see, learned that there was a Gospel attributed to St.
Peter read in the sacred services of the church of Ehosus,
1 Homil. xii. 31 ; cf. Matt. x. 29, 30 ; Luke xii. 6, 7. in Cilicia. Taking it for grauted, as lie says, that all in
his diocese held the same faith, without perusing this
Gospel, he sanctioned its use, saying, "If this be the
only thing that creates difference among you, let it be
read."
But he was speedily made aware that this Gospel
was not orthodox in its tendency. It favoured the
opinions of the Docetae. It was whispered that if it had
an apostolic parentage, it had heretical sponsors. Sera-
pion thereupon borrowed the Gospel, read it, and found
it was even as had been reported. " Peter," said he,

" we receive with the other apostles as Christ himself,"

but this Gospel was, if not apocryphal as to its facts,

at all events heretical as to its teaching.

Thereupon Serapion, regretting his precipitation in
sanctioning the use of the Gospel, wrote a book upon it,
"in refutation of its false assertions."^
This book unfortunately has been lost, so that we are
not able to learn much more about the GospeL "What
was its origin ? Was it a forgery from beginning to
end ? This is by no means probable.
The Gospel of St. Mark, as we have seen, was due to
St. Peter, and by some went by the name of the Gospel

* Eoseb. Hist. Eccl. tL 12.

L 2
220 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. THB GOSPEL OF ST. PETER. 221

of St. Peter. was a Gospel greatly affected by the

It bright overshadowing cloud of the Divinity, of the Christ,
Docetne and Elkesaites. " Those who distinguish Jesus reposed on him for a brief period only ; it descended at
from Christ, and who say that Christ was impassible, the baptism, withdrew before the passion.
it

but that Jesus endured the sufferings of his passion, —

Such were the party they were scarcely yet a sect
prefer the Gospel of Mark," says Irenfeus.^ who used the Gospel of St. Peter. Was this Gospel a
It was likely that they should prefer it, for it began at corrupted edition of St. Mark ? Probably not. We have
the baptism, and tliis event it stated, or was thought to not much ground on wliich to base an opinion, but there
state,was the beginning of the Gospel to Docetic minds ;
is just sufficient to make it likely that such was not the

an admission, an assertion rather, that all that preceded case.

was of no importance; Jesus was but a man as are other To the was purely
Docetae, the nativity of our Lord
men, till the plenitude of the Spirit descended on him. indifferent was not in their Gospel that it was
; it ;

The early history might be matter of curiosity, but not miraculous they would not allow. To admit that Christ
of edification. was the Son of God wlien bom of IMary, was to abandon
That matter is which in the East
evil is a doctrine their peculiar tenets. It was immaterial to them whether
has proved the mother of heresies. Those infected
fertile Jesus had brothers and sisters, or whether James and
—
with this idea and it is an idea, like Predestinarianism, Jude were only his cousins. The Canonical Gospels
which, when once accepted and assimilated, pervades the speak of the brothers and sisters of Christ, and we are
whole tissue of belief and determines its form and com- not told that they were not the children of Mary.^ When
—
plexion could hot acknowledge frankly and with con- the Memorabilia were committed to writing, there was
viction the dogma of the Incarnation- That God should no necessity for doing so. The relationship was known
have part with matter, was as opposed to their notions to every one. Catholics, maintaining the perpetual vir-

as a concord of light with darkness. Carried by the ginity of the mother of Jesus, asserted that they were
•

current setting strongly that way, they found themselves children of Joseph by a former wife, or cousins. The
landed in Christianity. They set to work at once to Gospel of St Peter declared them to be the children of
mould Christianity in accordance with their theory of Joseph by an earlier marriage. Origen says, " There are

the inherent evil in matter. Christ, an emanation from persons who assure us that the brothers of Jesus were

tlie Pleroma, the highest, purest wave that swept from

the sons whom Joseph had by his first he
wife, before

the inexhaustible fountain of Deity, might overshadow, married Mary. They base their opinion on either the
Gospel entitled the Gospel of Peter, or on the Book of
but could not coalesce with, the human Jesus. The
nativity and the death of our Lord were repugnant to
James (the Protevangelium)."^
their consciences. They evaded these facts by con- Such a statement would not have been intruded into
the Gospel by the Docetae, as it favoured no doctrine of
sidering that he was born and died as man, but that th©

* "Qui JeBnm sepsrant a Christo et impassibilem pereeverasse CbriBtam, > Matt. xii. 47, 48, xiii. 55 ; Mark iii. 32 ; Luke viil. 20 ; John Tii. 5.
passuni vero Jesam dicunt, id quod secundum Marcnm est prsferunt Bran-
* Origen, Comment, in Matt. c. ix.
gelium." — Iren. adr. Hseres. iii. 2. . The Greek is lost.

5B
222 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS.

theirs. must therefore have existed in the Gospel

It
before came into their hands.
it

We know how St Mark's Gospel was formed. After

the death of his master, the evangelist compiled aU the
fragmentary " Recollections " of St. Peter concerning our
Lord. But these recollections had before this circulated IV.

throughout the Church. We have evidence of this in

THE GOSPEL OF THE EGTPTIANa
the incorporation of some of them into the Gospels of
St. Matthew and St. Luke. Others, besides St. Mark, The Gospel known by this name is mentioned by
may have strung these fragments together. One such several of the early Fathers.^ It existed in the second
tissue would be the Gospel of St. Peter. It did not, half of the second century and as it was then in use
;

perhaps, contain as many articles as that of St Mark, and regarded as canonical by certain Christian sects, it
but it was less select. Like those of St Matthew and must have been older. We shall not be far out if we
St Luke, on the thread were probably strung memorar- place its composition at the beginning of the second
bUia of other apostles and disciples, but also, perhaps, century.
some of questionable authority. To form an idea of its tendency, we must have re-
This collection was in use at lihosus. It may have cotirse to two different sources, the second Epistle of
been in use there since apostolic days perhaps it was ; Clemens Eomanus, the author of which seems to have
compiled by some president of the church there. But made use of no other Gospel than that of the Egyptians,
it had not been suffered to remain without interpolations and Clement of Alexandria, who quotes three passages
which gave it a Docetic character. from it, and refutes the theories certain heretics of his
Its statement of the relationship borne by the " brothers time derived from them.
and sisters" to our Lord is most valuable, as it is whoUy The second Epistle of St Clement of Eome is a
unprejudiced and of great antiquity. The Gospel, held Judaizing work, as Schneckenburg has proved incon-
in reverence as sacred in the second century at lihosus, testably.^ It is sufficient to remark that the ChOiast
was probably brought thither when that church was belief which transpires in more than one place, the
founded, not perhaps in a consecutive histoiy, but in analogy of ideas and of expressions which it bears to the
paragraphs. The church was a daughter of the church Clementine Homilies, and finally the selection of Cle-
of Antioch, and therefore probably founded by a disciple ment of Eome, a personage as dear to the Ebionites as
of St Peter. the apostles James and Peter, to place the composition
under his venerated name, are as many indications of

f'i
• TA alyvirriov EvayyiXiov ; Epiphan. Hseres. Ixii. 2 ; Evangelinm

secandnra ^gyptioa ; Origen, Horn. i. inluc. ; Evangelium juzta ^gyptios

Uieron. Prolog, in Comm. super Matth.
• Schneckenburg, Ueber das ETangeliam der ^gypter; Berne, 1834.
224 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE EGYPTIANS. 225

the Judseo-Christian character and origin of this apocry- The explanation by Clement
of this singular passage
phal work. of Eome is, "Two
one when we are truthfid
shall be
The Gospel cited by the author of this Epistle, except with each other, and when in two bodies there will be
in two or three phrases which are not found in any
but one soul, without dissimulation and without dis-
of our Canonical Gospels, recalls that of St. iMattbew. guise. That which is without is the body that which
;

Nevertheless, it is certain that the quotations are from is within is the souL Just as your body appears ex-
the Gospel of the Egyptians, for one of the passages cited ternally, so should your soul manifest itself by good
in this Epistle is also quoted by Clement of Alexandria, works." The explanation of the last member of the
who tells us whence it comes —
from the Egyptian phrase is wanting, as the Epistle has not come down to
Gospel. We may conclude from this that the Gospel us entire.
of the. Egyptians presented great analogy to our first
But this is certainly not the real meaning of the pas-
Canonical Gospel, without being identical with it, and sage. Its true signification is to be found in the blood-
consequently that it was related closely to the Gospel of less, passionless exaltation at which the ascetic aimed
the Hebrews. who held aU matter to be the body to be a clog to
evil,
If the second Epistle of Clement of Eome determines the soul, marriage to be abominable, meats to be ab-
for us the family to which this Gospel belonged, the stained from. It points to that condition as one of per-
passages we shall extract from the Stromata of Clement fection inwhich the soul shall forget her union with the
of Alexandria will determine There are three
its order. body, and, sexless and ethereal, shall be supreme.
of these passages, and very curious ones they are. It was in this sense that the heretics took it. Julius
The first is cited by both Clement of Rome and Cassianus, "chief of the sect of the Docetaj,"^ invoked
Clement of Alexandria, by one more fully than by the this text against the union of the sexes. This interpre-
other. tation manifestly embarrassed St. Clement of Alexan-
" The lord, hamng been asked hy Salome wJwn his dria, and he endeavours to escape from the difficulty
kingdom would come, replied, When you shall Jmve by weakening the authority of the text.
trampled underfoot the garment of shame, when tioo shall He does this by pointing out that the saying of our
he one, wJien iluit which is without shall he like tliat which Lord is found only in the Gospel of the Egyptians, and
is within, and wlun the male with the female shall he not in those four generally received. But as Julius Cas-
neither male nor female."^ sianus appealed at the same time to a saying of St.

Clement or Rohr. Paul, the authenticity of which was not to be contested,

I Clkmert of Alexandria.
Stromat. iii. 12. 2 Epist. c. 12. the Alexandrine doctor did not consider that he could
nvfOavo/iEvijc rijc £«Xio/«5c wore 'Eirtpuri/Oeic yip abroQ b cvpioc avoid discussing the question and he gives, on his side,
;

yviaaBifOtTai tA irtpi S>v ijptro, lifitl vit6 Ttvoc iron tj^u avTou fi 13a-
an interpretation of the saying of Jesus in the Apocryphal
Kvpto{' orav rb rqc alaxvvtiQ mXcia orav lirrai rd Svo iv, Kal
Gospel, and of that of St. Paul, associated with it by
;

ivBvfia TraTtimiTt, rot orav yivtircu t6 iiot <!)£ iiroi, Kfli dpmv fUrA
ri
ri a^ptv fieri Tijc Oti\tiat OVTC apvtv own OqXw. Julius Cassianus. The words of St. Paul quoted by the
tA ivo ?v, cut rijs

0i)XEiac ovrt S^tv ovrt OqXv. * "O rqc ioKTiatiiii lf,apxii>v. —Stromat. iii. 13.

L 3
226 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE EGYPTIANS. 227

heretic were those iu There is

Galatians (iii/ 28) :
" jjositions ; if tliey fell, it mattered not, the soul was not
neither Jew nor Greek, neither houd nor free, male or stained by the deeds of the body ; if they remained un-
moved, the body was indeed mastered, " the two had
female." Cassianus paid no regard to the general sense
of the passage, wliich is, that the privileges of the gospel become one."
are common to all of every degree and nation and sex, The garment of shame is to be trampled under foot.

hut fastening on the words " neither male nor female," Julius Cassianus explains this singular expression. It

contended tliat tliis was a prohibition of marriage. St. :

is the apron of skins Avherewith our first parents were
Clement pays every whit as little regard to the plain clothed, when they blushed at their nakedness. They
sense of the passage, and gives the whole an absurd bluslied because they were iu sin ; when men and women
mystic signification, as far removed from the thought shall cease to blush at tlieir nudity, then they have
of the apostle as the explanation of Julius Cassianus. attained to the spiritual condition of unfallen man.

"By male," says he, "understand anger, folly. By "We see in embryo the Adamites of the IVIiddle Ages,

female understand lust and when ; these are carried out, the Anabaptists of the Eeformation.

the result is penitence and shame."

But the garment of skin has a deeper signification

It has been thought that the words "wlien two shall,

Philo tauglit* that it symbolized the human body that
clothed the nakedness of the Gnosticism caught
be one" recall the philosophic doctrine of the Pytha- spirit.

at the idea. Unfallen man was pure spirit. Man had

goreans on the subject of numbers and the dualism
which was upheld by many of the Gnostics. St. Mark, fallen,and his fall consisted in being clothed in flesh.
This garment of skin must be trodden under foot, that
according to Irenscus, taught that everything had sprung
out of the monad and dyad.* But it is not so. The
the soul may arise above it, be emancipated from its

teaching was not philosophic, but practical. It may be bonds.

" The kingdom of heaven shall have The second passage is quite in harmony with the first
thus paraphrased :

shall have so broken with the pas-

" Salome Jiaving asked Jww long men slwuld die, tJie Lord
come when the soul
the body, that it wUl no longer be answered and said, As long as you women continue to
sions and feeUngs of
bear children.^ Tlien she said, I have done well, I have
sensible of shame. The body will be lost in the soul,
body which is never home a child. The Lord answered. Eat of every
so that the two shall become one ; the
with herb, but not of that containing in itself bitterness."^
without shaU be like the soul Tvithin, and the male
Cassian appealed to this text also in proof that mar-
the female shall be insensible to passion."
•
It was a doctrine which infected whole bodies of
men ' "Ad
mentem Tero tunica pellicea symbolice est pellis nataralis, id
later :the independence of the soul from the body led e3t corpus nostrum. Deus enim intellectnm condens primum, vocavit
hand ilium Adam deinde sensum, cui Tits (Era) nomen dedit tertio ex
asceticism and frantic sensuality running
; ;

to wild
necessitate corpus quoque facit, tunicam pelliceam illud per symbolum
in hand. Holding this doctrine, the Fraticelli in the dicens. Oportebat enim at intellectus et sensus velut tunica cutis in-
thirteenth century flung themselves into the most fiery daerent corpus." —Philo : Quaest. et Solut. in Gen. i. 53, trans, from the

temptations, placed themselves in the most

perilous Armenian bjr J. B. Aucher ; Venice, 1826.
» Clem. Alex. Stromal, iii. 6. ' Ibid. 9.
^ Adv. Hteres. i. 11.
228 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE EGYPnANS. 229
I

riage was forbidden. But Clement of Alexandria re- in general ; and by womankind, that is, by concupiscence,
fused to understand it in this sense. He is perhaps generation and death exist.
right when lie argues that the first answer of our Lord Clement of Alexandria was incapable of seizing the
means, that as long as there are men born, so long men plain meaning of these words. He says, "The Lord
will die. But the meaning of the next answer entirely has not deceived us, for he has indeed destroyed the
escapes him. When our Lord says, " Eat of every herb works of concupiscence, viz. love of money, of strife,
save that in which is bitterness," he means, says Clement, glory, of women .... now the birth of these vices
that marriage
that there
may
is
and continence are left to our choice, and
no command one way or the other man
eat of every tree, the tree of celibacy, or the tree
;
4 is

sins."
the death of the soul, for

We must look
we

to Philo for the key.

die indeed

The woman.
by our

of marriage, only he must abstain from the tree of eviL Eve, means, as he says, the sense ; Adam, the intellectual
But this is not what was meant. Under a figurative spirit. The union of soul and body is the degradation
expression, the writer of this passage conveyed a warn- of the soul, the fertile parent of corruption and death.*
inff against marriage. .Death is the fruit of birth, birth Out of Philo's doctrine grew a Manichaeanism in the
is the fruit of marriage. Abstain ffom eating of the Christian community before Manes was born.
tree of marriage,and death wUl be destroyed. The work of Jesus was taught to be the emancipation
That meaning of this remarkable say-
this is the real of the soul, the rational spirit, Novs, from the restraints

ing is proved conclusively by another extract from the of the body, its restoration to its primitive condition.

Gospel of the Egyptians, also made by Clement of Death would cease when the marriage was dissolved
Alexandria; put in the mouth of our Lord. "/
it is that held the spirit fettered in the prison-house of flesh.

am come to destroy tJie works of the woman; of tli^ woman, Philonian philosophy remained vigorous at Alexan-
that is, of coneupiseence, ivhose wm-ks are generation and dria in the circle of enlightened Jews. It struck deep
root, and blossomed in the Christian Church.
death." ^ This quotation bears on the face of it marks
of having been touched and explained by a later hand.
A Gospel, which we do not know — it may have been
" Of the woman, —
that is, concupiscence, whose works that of Mark —was brought into Egypt. The author of
generation and death," are a gloss added by an the Epistle to the Hebrews, an Epistle clearly addressed
are
which was adopted into the text received to the Alexandrine Jews, prepared their minds to fuse
Encratite,
Philonism with Christianity. We see its influence in
among the Egyptian Docetae. The words, " I am come
the Gospel of St. John. That evangelist adopted Philo's
to destroy the works of the woman," i.e. Eve, may
have
doctrine of the Logos the author of the Gospel of the
been spoken by our Lord. By Eve came sin and death ;

Egyptians, that of the bondage of the spirit in matter.

into the world, and these works Christ did indeed come
to destroy. 1 "SeDSUB, quae Eymbolice mulierest." —Philo: Qaseat. et Solut. i. 52.
But the gloss, as is obvious, alters the meaning of the " Generatio at sapientum fert sententia, corrDptionis est principiam."

saying. The woman is no longer Eve, but womankind Ibid. 10.

1 Clem. Alex. Stromat. iii. 9.

:^i
230 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE EGYPTIANS. 231

The conceptions contained in the three passages which of good and evil, that is, — reject all that can weave closer
Clement of Alexandria has preserved are closely united. the links binding the soul to the body, retain it in its
They all are referable to a certain theosophy, the expo- prison, its grave.^
which is to be found in the writings of Philo,
sition of It is easy to see how Philonian ideas continued to
and which may be in vain sought elsewhere at that exert their influence in Egypt, when absorbed into
period. Not only are there to be found here the theo- Christianity. Itwas these ideas which peopled the
sophic system of the celebrated Alexandrine Jew, but deserts of Nitria and Scete with myriads of monks
also, what is a still clearer index of the source whence wrestling with their bodies, those prison-houses of their
the Egjrptian Gospel drew its mystic asceticism, we find souls, struggling to die to the world of matter, that
the quaint expressions and forms of speech which be- their ethereal souls might shake themselves free. Their
longed to Philo, and to none but him. No one but spirits were like moths in a web, bound by silken
Philo had thought to find in the first chapters of Genesis threads; the spirit would be clioked by these fetters,
the history of the fall of the soul into the world of sense, unless it could snap them and sail away.
and to inake of Eve, of the woman, the symbol of the
liuman body, and starting from this to explain how the
* Nicolas : Etades snr lea Erangiles apocryphes, pp. 128 —130. M.
Nicolas was the first to discorer the intimate connection that existed
soul could return to its primitive condition, purely between the Qospel of the Egyptians and Philonian philosophy.

spiritual, by shaking off the sensible to which in its The relation in which Philo stood to Christian theology has not as yet,
so far as I am aware, been thoroughly investigated. Dionysias the Areo-
present state it is attached. When we shall have pagite, the true father of Christian theosophy, derires his ideas and termino-
trampled under foot our tunics of skins wherewith we logy from Philo. Aquinas developed Dionysius, and on the Summa of the
have been covered since the fall, this garment, given to Angel of the Schools Catholic theology has long reposed.

us because we were ashamed of our nakedness, when —

t]ie body shall have become like the soul, when the —
union of the soul with the body, i.e. of the male and the
female, shall exist no more, —
when the woman, that is
the body, shall be no more productive, shall no more
—
produce generation and death, when its works are de-
stroyed, then we shall not die any more we shall be as ;

we were before our fall, pure spirits and this will be ;

the kingdom of the Lord. And to prepare for this trans-

formation, what is to be done? Eat of every herb,
nourish ourselves on the fruit of every tree of paradise,
— that is, cultivate the soul, and not occupy it with
anything but that which will make it live ; but abstain
from the herb of bitterness, —the tree of the knowledge
 PART III.

THE LOST PAULINE GOSPELS.

Under head are classed such Gospels as have a distinct

this
anti-Judaizing,Antinomian tendency. They were in use among
the Churches of Asia Minor, and eventually found their way into
^^1
Egypt.
This class may probably be subdivided into those which bore
a strong affinity to the Canonical Gospel of St Luke, and those
which were independent compilations.

To the first class belongs

1. The Gospel of the Lord.

To the second class

1. The Gospel of Eve.

2. The Gospel of Perfection.
3. The Gospel of Pliilip.
4. The Gospel of Judas.

I
 PAET IIL

THE LOST PAULINE GOSPELS.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD.

'I

The Gospel of the Lord, 'Evayyekiov tov Kvpiov, was

the banner under which the left of the Christian army
marched, as the right advanced under that of the Gospel
of the Hebrews.
The Gospel of the Lord was used hj Marcion, and
apparently before him by Cerdo.^
In opposition to Ebionitism, with its narrow restraints
and its low Christology, stood an exclusive Hellenism.
Ebionitism saw in Jesus the Son of David, come to re-
edit the Law, to provide it with new sanction, after he
had winnowed the chaff from the wheat in it. Mar-
cionism looked to the Atonement, the salvation wrought
by Christ for all mankind, to the revelation of the truth,
the knowledge (ycuo-is) of the mysteries of the Godhead
naade plain to men, through God the good. and merciful,
who sent His Son to bring men out of ignorance into

* Tert. De pneacr. haeretica, c. 61. "Cerdon solam Lucse ETangeliam,

nee tamen totam recipit.
236 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS.
GOSPEL OF THE LOHD, 237
light, out of the bondage of the Law into the freedom of
image of God, should shine unto them."' St. Paul had
the Gospel.'
no intention of representing the God of the Jews who
The Go.spel, in the eyes of Marcion and the extreme
veiled their eyes as opposed to Christ but it is easy ;

followers of St. Paul, represented free grace, overflowing

to see how who followed his doctrine of
readily those
goodness, complete reconciliation with God.
antagonism between the Law and the Gospel would be
But such goodness stood contrasted with the stern
led to suppose that he^ did identify tlie God of the Law
justice of the Creator, as revealed in the books of the
with the principle of obstructiveness and of evil.
Old Testament infinite, unconditioned forgiveness was
;
So also St. Paul's teaching that sin was produced by
incompatible with the idea of God as a Lawgiver and a
the Law, that it had no positive existence, but was called
Judge. The restraint of the Law and the freedom of
into being by the imposition of the Commandments,
the Gospel could no more emanate from the same source "
lent itself with readiness to Marcion's system. The
than sweet water and bitter.
Law entered, that tlie offence might abound."^ " The
Therefore the advanced Pauline party were led on to
motions of sins are by the Law."' " I had not known
regard the God who is revealed in the Old Testament
sin, but by tlie Law for I had not known lust, except
:

as a different God from the God revealed by Christ.

the I.aw had said. Thou shalt not covet."*
Cerdo first, and Marcion after him, represented the God
This Law, imposed by the God of the Jews, is then
of tliis world, the Demiurge, to be the author of evil
the source of sin. It is imposed, not on the spirit, but
but the author of evil only in so far as that his nature
on the flesh. In opposition to it stands the revelation
being incomplete, his work was incomplete also. He
of Jesus Christ, which repeals the Law of the Jews.
created the world, but the world, partaking in his im-
"The Law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
perfection, contains evil mixed with good. He created
made me free from the law of sin and death."^ ''There-
the angel-world, and part of it, through defect in the
fore we conclude that a man is justified without tlie
divinity of their first cause, fell from heaven.
deeds of the Law."" " Before faith came, we were kept
The germs of this doctrine, it was pretended, were to under the Law, shut up unto the faith which should
be found in St. Paul's Epistles. In the second to the afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the Law was our
Corinthians, after speaking of the Jews as blinded to we might be
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that
the revelation of the Gospel by the veil which is on justified by faith ; but after that faith is come, we are
their faces, the apostle says The God of this world
:
"
no longer under a schoolmaster."^
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest We find in St. Paul's writings all the elements of
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
Marcion's doctrine, but not compacted into a system,
'
For an account of tbe doctrines of Marcion, the anthorities are, The because St. Paul never had worked out such a theory,
Apologies of Jnstin Martyr ; Tertnllian's treatise against Marcion, L—t.;
' Rom.
IrenRDs against Heresies, i. 28 ; Epiphanins on Heresies, xlii. 1—8 ; and
> 1 Cor. iv. 4. V. 20.

a " Dialogns de recta in Denm fide," printed with Origan's Works, in the * Rom. vi. 6. * Rom. vii. 7.

edition of De la Rae, Paris, 1733, though not earlier than the fourth ' Rom. Tiii. 2. • Rom. iii. 28.

century. » Qftl. iii. 23—25.

238 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 239

and would have shrunk from the conclusions which
might be drawn from his words, used in the heat of
argument, for the purpose of opposing an error, not of
establishing a dogmatic theory.
The whole world lay, according to Marcion, under the
dispensation of the Demiurge, and therefore under a
mixed government of good and evil To the Jewish,
nation this Demiurge revealed himself. His revelation
was stem, uncompromising, imperfect. Then the high-
est God, the God of love and mercy, who stood opposed
to the inferior God, the Creator, the God of justice and
severity, sent Jesus Christ for the salvation of all (ad
salutem omnium gentium) to overthrow and destroy
(arguere, redarguere, iXiyxdv, KaraXcveiv) " the Law and
the Prophets," the revelation of the world-God, the God
of the Jews.
The highest God, whose'realm and law were spiritual,
had been an unknown God (deus ignotus) till Christ
came to reveal Him. The God of this world and of the
Jews had a carnal realm, and a law which was also
camaL They formed an antithesis, and true Christianity
consisted in emancipation from the carnal law. The
created world under the Demiurge was bad matter was
; self to St. Paul,^
ness. For if sin be merely violation of the law of the
God of this world, it is indifferent to the highest God,
who is above the Demiurge, and regards not his vexations
restrictions on the liberty of man.
Yet was not charged by his warmest anta-
]\Iarcion
gonists with immorality. Tliey could not deny that
tlie IMarcionites entirely differed from other Pauline
Antinomiana in their moral conduct that, for example, —
in their abhorrence of heathen games and pastimes they
came fuUy up to the standard of the most rigid Catholic
Christians. While many of the disciples of St. Paul,
who held that an accommodation with prevailing errors
was allowable, that no importance was to be attached
to externals, found no difficidty in evading the obli-
gation to become martyrs, the Marcionites readily, fear-
lessly, underwent the interrogations of the judges and
the tortures of the executioner.^
Marcion, there is no doubt, regarded St. Paul as the
only genuine apostle, the only one who remained true
to his high calling. He taught that Christ, after reveal-
ing himself in his divine power to the God of this world,
and confounding him unto submission, manifested him-
and commissioned him to preach the

evil spirit alone was pure.

; Thus the chain unrolled, gospel.
and lapsed into Manichseism. Cerdo and Marcion stood He rejected ell the Scriptures accounted canoni-now
in the same relation to Manes that Paul stood in to cal, except the Epistles of St. Paul, which formed with

them. Manichaeism was not yet developed it was de- ; him an " Apostolicon," in wliich they were arranged
veloping. in the following order :
—The Epistle to the Galatians,

Gnosticism, with easy impartiality, affected Ebionitism the First and Second to the Corinthians, the Epistles to
on one side and Marcionism on the other, intensifying the Romans, the Thessalonians, Ephesians, Colossians,
their opposition. It was like oxygen combining here to Philemon, and to the PhUippians.^
form an alkali, there to generate an acid. Besides the Epistles of St. Paul, he made use of an

The God of love, according to Marcion, does not • Enseb. Hist. Eccles. iv. 16, viL 12. De Martyr. Palaest. 10.

punisL His dealings with man are aU benevolence, • Cf. 1 CoL ix. 1, XT. 8 ; 2 Cor. xiL
communication of free grace, bestowal of ready forgive- • Bpipban. Hteres. xlii. 11.
240 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LOED. 241

" Logia" and of the "Practhenta" of Christ. The more

original Gospel,which he asserted was the evangelical
record cited and used by Paul himself. The other Ca- voluminous of these collections, those better strung
nonical Gospels he rejected as corrupted by Judaizera. together, tlirust the earlier, less complete, collections

This Gospel bore a close resemblance to that of St. into the back-ground. And these collections were con-
Luke. " Marcion," says Irenteus, " has disfigured the tinually being augmented by the acquisition of fresh
entire Gospel, he lias reconstructed it after his own material ; and this new material was squeezed into the
fancy, and then boasts that he possesses the true Gos- existing text, often without much consideration for the
chain of story or teaching whichit broke and dislocated.
pel."^
Tertullian assures us that Marcion had cut out of St. Marcion was too conscientious and earnest a man wil-
Luke's Gospel whatever opposed his own doctrines, and
fully to corrupt a Gospel He probably brought with
retained only what was in favour of them.* This state-
him to Eome the Gospel in use at Sinope in Pontus, of
which city, according to one account, his father was
ment, as we shall see presently, was not strictly true.
Epiphanius is more precise. He goes most carefully
bishop. The Church in Sinope had for its first bishop,
over the Gospel used by Marcion, and discusses every
Philologus, the friend of St. Paul, if we may trust the
pseudo-Hippolytus and Dorotheus. It is probable that
text which, he says, was modified by the heretic'
The charge of mutilating the Canonical Gospels was
the Church of Sinope, when founded, was furnished by
St. Paul with a collection of the records of Christ's life
brought by the orthodox Fathers against both the Ebion-
and teaching such as he supplied to other "Asiatic"
ites on one side, and the Marcionites and Valentinians
churches. And this collection was, no doubt, made by
on the other, because the Gospels they used did not
his constant companion Luke.
exactly agree with those employed by the middle party
But the Thus the Gospel of Marcion may be Luke's original
in the Church which ultimately pi-evailed.
Gospel. But there is every reason to believe that Luke's
extreme parties on their side made the same charge
Gospel went tlirough considerable alteration, probably
against the Catholics.* It is not necessary to believe
passed through a second edition with considerable addi-
these charges in every case.
tions to it made by the evangelist's own hand, before it
If the Gospels^ were compiled as in the manner I
became what it now is, the Canonical Lake.
have contended they were, such discrepancies must have
He may have found reason to alter the arrangement
occurred. Every Church had its own collection of the
of certain incidents to insert whole paragraphs which
;

' Iren. adr. Hseres. iii: IL had come to him since he had composed his first rough
* "Contraria qnteque Bententis erasit, competentia aatem gententis
sketch to change certain expressions where he foimd a
;

reservarit."— TertuL adv. Marcion, it. 6.

diUerence in accounts of the same sayings, or to combine
* Epipban.Harw. xlvii. 9 — 12.

* " Ego meam (Bvangelium) dico Ternm, Marcion Boam. EgoMansionii several.

affinno adulteratam, Marcion meum. Qais inter noB disceptabit

!"— Tert. Moreover, the first edition was published in the full

adv. Marcion, it. 4. heat of the Pauline controversy. Its strong Paulinian-
' Hot St. John's GfoBpel ; tbat is nniqne ; a bio'grapby by an eye-witnen, ism lies on the surface. But afterwards, when this
r.ot a composition of distinct notices.
M
 242 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS.
GOSPEL OP THE LORD. 243
excitement had passed away, and the popular miscon-
this instance, no purpose was served by this transpo-
ception of Pauline sola-fidianism had become a general
sition. It is unaccountable on the theory that Marcion
offence to morals and religion, then Luke
came under corrupted the Gospel of Luke ; but if we suppose that
the influence of St. John, and tempered his
Gospel by Luke revised the arrangement of his Gospel after its
adding to it incidents Paul did not care to have inserted
first publication, the explanation is simple enough.
in the Gospel he wished his converts to receive,
or the But what is far more conclusive of the originality of
accuracy of which, as disagreeing with his own views,
Marcion's Gospel is, that his Gospel was without several
he was disposed to question.
passages which occur in St. Luke, and which do appa-
Of this I shall have more to say presently. It is neces-
rently favour his views. Such are Luke xi. 51, xiii. 30
sary, in the first place, briefly to show that
lilarcion's
Gospel contained a different arrangement of the narrative
and 34, xx. 9 16. —
These contain strong denunciations
of the Jews by Jesus Christ, and a positive declara-
from the Canonical Luke, and was mthout many passages
tion that they had fallen from their place as the elect
which it is not possible to believe he wilfully excluded.
people. Marcion insisted on the abrogation of the Old
For instance, in Marcion's Gospel " And as he entered:
Covenant; it was a fundamental point in his system;
into a certain village, there met him ten men that were he Avould consequently have found in these passages
lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their
powerful arguments in favour qf his thesis. He cer-
voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And i

tainly would not have excluded them from his Gospel,

when he saw them, he said unto them, Go, sliow your-
selves unto the priests. And it came
they went, they were cleansed. And many lepers were
in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet and none of
them was cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian. And one
of them, when he saw that he was healed," &c. Here
the order is Luke xvii. 12, 13, 14, iv. 27, xvii. 15. Such
a disturbance of the text in the Canonical Gospel could
serve no purpose, would not support any peculiar view
of Marcion, and cannot therefore have been a wilful
alteration. And in the first chapter of Marcion's Gospel
this is the sequence of verses whose parallels in St.
are iii. 1, iv. 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 16, 20,
:
21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30. 40, 41, 42, 43, 44?
Thus the order of events is different in the two Gos-
pels. Christ goes first to Capernaum in the " Gospel of
the Lord," and afterwards to Nazareth, an inversion of
the order as given in the Gospel of St. Luke.
and Ter-
had he tampered with the text, as Irenteus
to pass, that as
tuUian declare.
Yet Marcion would not scniple to use the knife upon
;
a Gospel that came into his hands, if lie found in it
passages that wholly upset his doctrine of the Demiurge
and of asceticism. For when the Church was full of
Gospels, and none were as yet settled authoritatively as
canonical, private opinion might, unrebuked, choose one
Gospel and reject the others, or subject any Gospel to
critical supervision. The manner in which the Gospels
were composed laid them open to criticism. Any
Luke Church might hesitate to accept a saying of our Lord,
and incorporate it Avith the Gospel with which it was
acquainted, till satisfied that the saying was a genuine
apostolic tradition. And how was aChurch to be satisfied
By internal evidence of genuineness, when the apostles
themselves had passed away. Consequently, each Church
Again, in was obliged to exert its critical faculty in the compo-
M 2
244 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 245

sition of ita Gospel. And

that the churcheg did exert tittle of my words to faU ;" or perhaps, " It is easier for
their jndgraent evidenced by the mass of
freely is heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the words of
apocryphal matter wliich remains, the dross after the the Lord to fail ;" for in this instance we have not the
refining, piled up in tlie Gospels of Nicodemus, of the exact words.*
Infancy of Thomas, and of Joseph the Carpenter. All But though Marcion certainly endured the presence
of which was deliberately rejected as resting on no apos- of texts in his Gospel which militated against his system,
tolic authority, as not found in any Church to be read he may have cut out other passages. Passages, or words
at the sacred mysteries, but as mere folk-tales buzzed only, which he thought had crept into the text without
about, nowhere producing credentials of authenticity. authority. This can scarcely be denied when the texts
Marcion, following St. Paul, declared that the Juda- are exatnined which are wanting in his Gospel. No strong
izing Church had " corrupted the word of God,"^ mean- conservative attachment to any particular Gospels had
ing such " logia" as, " I am not come to destroy the Law grown up in the Church as yet no texts had been autho-
;

or the Prophets." "Till heaven and earth pass, one- ritatively sanctioned. As late as the end of the second
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, century (A.D. 190), the Church of Ehossus was using its
tiU all is fulfilled."* These texts would naturally find own Gospel attributed to Peter, tUl Serapion, bishop of
no place in the original Pauline Gospels used by tlie Antioch, thinking that it contained Docetic errors, pro-
Churches he had founded. In St. Luke's Gospel, accord- bably because of omissions, suppressed it,* and substi-
ingly, the Law and the Prophets are said to have been tuted for it, in all probabUity, one of the more generally
" the kingdom of
until John, and since then the Gospel, approved Gospels.
God."' But the following verse in St. Luke's Gospel The Church of Rhossus was neither heretical nor

is,
" It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one schismatical formed part of the Catholic Church, and
; it

tittle of the Law to fail"— a contradiction of the

imme- no objection was raised against its use of a Gospel of
diately preceding verse, which declares that the law its own, tiU it was suggested that this Gospel contained

has ceased with the proclamation of the Gospel. This errors of doctrine. No question was raised whether it
verse, therefore, cannot have existed in its present form was an authentic Gospel by Peter or not the standard ;

in the original Gospel of St. Luke, and must have

been by which it was measured was the traditional faith of
modified when a reconciliation had been effected between the ChurcL It did not agree with this standard, and
Petrine and Pauline Christianity. I was therefore displaced. St. Epiphanius and St. Jerome
the verse probably unjustifiably, that the orthodox did not
It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that assert,

should read differently in Marcion's Gospel, which con- hesitate to amend their Gospels, if they thought there
tains the uncorrupted original passage, .and runs thus were passages in them objectionable or doubtful Thus
" It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for one i:]
• Tert. " Transeat coelam et terra citins qaam unns apex verlwrnm
:

Domini ;" bot Tertnllian is not quoting directly, so that the words may
» 2 Cor. u. 17, »nd iv. 2.
» Matt. T. 17, 18. hate been, and probably were, rSv \6yo)v fiou, not tuiv \6yiav rov Oeov.
* Luke zTi. 16.
* Enseb. Hist. Bccl. tL 12 ; Theod. Fabul. h»ret. ii. 2.
246 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 247

they altered the passage in which Jesus have is said to
wept over Jerusalem (Luke xix. 41). St. Epiphanius
frankly tells us so. "The orthodox," says he, "have
eliminated these words, urged to it by fear, and not
feeling either their purpose or force."* more But it is
likely that the weeping of Jesus over Jerusalem was
inserted by Luke in his Gospel at the time of reconcilia-
tion under St. John, so as to make the Pauline Gospel
exhibit Jesus moved with sympathy for the holy city,
the head-quarters of the Law. The passage is not in
Marcion's Gospel and though it is possible he may have
; ledged by Tertullian, and that therefore Marcion's doc-
removed it, it is also possible that he did not find it in
the Pauline Gospel of the Church at Sinope.
St. Jerome says that Luke xxii. 43, 44, were also
eliminated from some copies of the Canonical Gospel.
" The Greeks have taken the liberty of extracting from
their texts these two verses, for the same reason that
they removed the passage in which it is said he wept.
.... Tliis can only come from superstitious persons,
who think that Jesus Christ could not have become as
weak as is represented."' St. Hilary says that these
verses were not found in many Greek texts, or in
Gospel Thus some Churches would be in possession of
the first edition, and others of the second, and Jerome and
Epiphanius, not knowing this, would conclude that those
in possession of the first had tampered with their text.
The Gospel of Marcion has been preserved to us
almost in its entirety. Tertullian regarded Marcionism
as the most dangerous heresy of his day. He wrote
against it, and carefuUy went through the Marcionite
Gospel to show that it maintained the Catholic faith,
though it differed somewhat from the Gospel acknow-
trine was untenable.* He does not charge Marcion with
having interpolated or curtailed a Canonical Gospel, for
Marcion was ready to retort the charge against the Gospel
used by Tertullian.'
It is not probable that Tertullian passed over any
passage in the " Gospel of the Lord" which could by
any means be made to serve against Marcion's system.
This is the more probable, because Tertullian twists the
texts to serve his purpose which in the smallest degree
lend themselves to being so treated.'
some St. Epiphanius has gone over much the same ground

Latin ones.' as Tertullian, but in a different manner. He attempts

But here, also, the assertion of St. Jerome and St. to show how wickedly Marcion had corrupted the Word
Hilary cannot be taken as a statement of fact, but rather of God, and how ineffectual his attempt had been, inas-
as a conclusion drawn by them from the fact that all much as passages in his corrupted Gospel served to

copies of the Gospel of St Luke did not contain these destroy his system.
two verses. They are wanting in the Gospel of our With these two purposes he went through the whole
of the " Gospel of the Lord," and accompanied it with a
Lord, and may be an addition made to the Gospel of St.
string of notes, indicating all the alterations
and omis-
Luke, after it had been first circulated. There is reason
to suppose that after St. Luke had written his Gospel, >•' Christos Jesus in evangelio tno meus est."
additional matter may have been provided him, and * See note 4 on p. 240.
that he published a second, and enlarged, edition of his » As xix. 10 :
" Filius hominis venit, salvnm facere qnod periit ....
negantium camU salutem ;—pollicebatnr
1 Epipban. Ancor. 31. * Hieron. adv. Pelag. iL elisa est sententia haereticorum

I (Jesos) totiiit hominis salutem."

Hilar. De Trinit. z.
248 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORP. 249

siona he found in it. Each text from Marcion's Gospel, 3. And in the synagogue there was a man, which had
or Scholion, is accompanied by a refutation. Epipha- a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud
nius is very particular. He professes to disclose " the voice.
fraud of Marcion from beginning to end." And the 4. Saying, Let us alone ; what have we to do with theo,

pains he took to do this thoroughly appear from the Jesus Ji Art thou come to destroy us 1 I know thee Avho

minute differences between the Gospels which he no- tliou art ; the Holy One of God.

tices.^ At the same time, he does not extract long pas- 5. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and

sages entire from the Gospel, but indicates their subject, come out of him. And when the devd had thrown him in
tlie midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
"where they agreed exactly with the received text. It
6. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves,
is possible, therefore, that other slight differences may for -with authority and power
saying, What a word is this !

have existed which escaped his eye, but the differences

lie commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
can only have been slight.
7. And he arose out of the synagogue,^ and entered into
The following table gives the contents of the Gospel
Suuon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with
of Marcion. It contains nothing that is not found in a great fever and they besought him for her.
;

St. Luke's Gospel. But some of the passages do not 8. And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever, and it
agree exactly with the parallel passages in the Canonical left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto
Gospel. them.
9. And the fame of him went out into every place of the
The Gospel (Tb Ei-ayytAiov)." country round about.
10. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of
Chap, i.3
all-S
1. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
11. he came to Nazareth ;* and, as his custom was, he
And
Pontius Pilate ruling in Judea, Jesus came down to Caper-
went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day,^ and he began
naum, a city of Galilee, and straightway on the Sabbath days,
to preach to them.®
going into the synagogue, ho taught.* and wondered at the gracious
12. And all bare him witness,
2. And they were astonished at his doctrine : for his word
words which proceeded out of his mouth.''
was with power. 13. And he said unto them. Ye wdl surely say unto me
* Sch. 4, iv ivToic for fttr aiiiruv. Sch. 1, vfiiv for nfiroic. Sch. 26,
Rch. 34, jrarep for wartp vfiStv, &c.
* Na?ap)jvE omitted.
icXqiriv for xpiaiv.

37 omitted here, and inserted after 89.

Marcion called hia Qospel " The Gospel," as the only one he knew and ' Luke IT. iv.
* St.

recognized, or "The Gospel of the Lord." ' Luke iv. 15 inserted here.
' The division into chapters is, of coarse, arbitrary.
* ou 11V TtOpaniiivoi omitted.
* 'Ev trti irtvTfKaiStKarif rijc vycitovias Ttpfp'tov KniVnpoc, iiyffiovivov-
' avitrrri avayvdrat omitted, and Lnke iv. 17 —20.
roc (St. Luke, Ivirpoinvovroc), Xlovriov IltXarov rflc '\ovSaiaQ, KaiiiKBfv
« Kal iJpSnro Kripvaauv avroXt- St. Luke has, 'Hp^aro fk \iyfiv Trplig
6 'I»i<Toug ti'c Kairepvaovn, iruXtp rjjc TdKiXaias' Kai tiOioig rolg <ra/3/3n(Tiy
avTOvz- on mifUpov irtn\f,piaTai r) ypa^i) ourij Iv roTc ixriv vftHv.
tlatXOiiv tie r^" avvayiayiiv lliiaaKe (St. Lake, cai oiidoKiav airove iv
Tots aipPaaiv). ' The rest of the verse (22) omittcrl.

M 3
250 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. OOSPEL OF THE LORD. 251

this proverb, Pliysiciaii, heal thyself: whatsoever we have Chap. V.

heard done in Cnpernaum, do also here.^ Same as St. Luke viii.
14. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel But verse 19 was omitted by ]\Iarcion.
in tlie days of Elias, when tlic heaven was shut up three years And verse 21 read: "And he answering, said unto
and six months, when great famine was throvighout the land ;
them, Wlio ismy mother, and who are my brethren?^
15. But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto
My mother and my brethren are these which hear the
Sarcpta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that wa.s a widow.
word of God, and do it."
16. And many lepers were in the time of Eliscus tlie pro-
phet in Israel,^ and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman Chap vi.

the Syrian. Same as St, Luke ix.

17. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these But verse 31 was omitted.
things, were filled with wrath, Chap. vii.
18. And and thrust him out of the city, and led
rose up, Same as St. Luke x.
him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, But verse 21 read: In that hour he rejoiced in the "
that tliey might cast him down headlong.
Spirit, and said, I praise and thank thee, Lord of Heaven,
19. But he passing through the midst of them, went his
that those things which were hidden from the wise and
way to Capernaum.^
prudent thou hast revealed to babes even so. Father :

20. Ami when the sun was setting, all they that had any ^
for so it seemed good in thy sight."
sick with divers diseases brought them unto him, &c. (as St.
And verse 22 ran :
" All things are delivered to me of
Luke iv. 40—44).
Chap, ii
my Father, and no man hath known the Father save
the Son, nor tlie Son save the Father, and he to whom
S.ime as St Luke v.
the Son hatli revealed ;"3 in place of, "All things are
Verse 14 dill'ered slightly. For ti's fiaprvpiov aiVois,
delivered to me of my Father; and no man knoweth
Marcion's Gospel had iva tovto y iiaprvpiov vp-iv, " tliat
who the Son is, but the Father ; and who the Father is,
this may be a testimony to you."
but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him."
Chap. iii.
And verse 25: "Doing what shall I obtain life?"
Same as St. Luke vi. " eternal," alwviov, being omitted.
Verse 17, for /xer airCav, Marclon read Iv aurots
Chap. viii.
"among tliem" for "with them."
Same as St. Luke xi.
Chap. iv.
• ri'c /low »'; fxi')r»ip icai At a^eX^oi.
Same as St. Luke vii.
' ElixnftiaTii KOI l^ofioXoyovfiai <Toi, Kvpii tow oi'pavow. on uTiva r)V
Verses 29—35 omitted.
(cpwnra <to0oIc icai (rwrfrolf a;rfKaXw;^r7C, &c. St. Luke has, t?oftoXoyou/iaJ

' Iv Ty irtiTpih aov omitted. oot, irarfp, in'pie row owpori'ow Kai rijc yiJQ, on aTrUpuil/ag raiira aTrb

* Iv Tip 'lanaqX after iiri 'EXtaaaiov tov npo^firov. aofuiv Kal avv(Tiiv Kai airfKaKv\l/n(, &c.

• iiroptvfTO c!g Knjrfpj'aoi'/i. St. Lake haa, IwopticTO rai KarijfKOev

' owOfi'c lyvw TOV varfpa €i fii) o wiog, ovSh tov wiov rif yivuffcei £i /">

fi'c Knjrfpvffoii/i. 6 nan'ip, Kai if av i) wiuf d7roKnXt'i//i;.

252 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 2.53

But verse 2 " When ye pray, say, Fatber, may thy

: Chap. xi.

Holy Spirit come to us, thy kingdom come," &c., in Same as St. Luke xiv.
place of " Hallowed he thy name."^ Verses 7 — 11 omitted.
Verse 29 : in Marcion's Gospel it ended, " This is an Chap. xii.
evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no Same as St. Luke xv. 1 — 10.
sign be given it." What follows in St. Luke's Gospel, Verses 11 — 32 omitted.
"tut the sign of Jonas the prophet," and verses 30 32, — Chap. xiii.
were omitted.
Same as St. Luke xvL
Verse 42 " Woe unto you, Pharisees ye tithe mint
: !

But verse 12 " If ye have not been faithful in that

:

and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over the
which is another man's, who wiU give you that which
calling" and the love of God," &c.
is mine ?"^
—
Verses 49 51 were omitted by Marcion.
And verse 17: for "One tittle of the Law shall not
Chap. ix.
fall," Marcion read, " One tittle of my words shaU not
Same as St. Luke xii. fall."
2

But verses 6, 7, and " tSv dyyeXmv" in 8 and 9 omitted. Chap. xiv.
Verse 32 read " Fear not, little flock ; for it is the
:
Same as St. Luke xvii.
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."'
But verse 2 :
«' firj iytwifOr], ij /ivAos ovtxos,' " if he had
And verse 38 ran thus: "And if he shall come in
not been born, or if a mill-stone," &c.
the evening watch, and find thus, blessed are those
Verses 9, 10 : Marcion's Gospel had, " Doth he thank
servants."*
that servant because he did the things that were com-
Chap. X. manded him ? I trow not. So likewise do ye,when ye
Same as St. Luke xiii. —
11 28. shall have done all those things that are commanded
Marcion's Gospel was without verses 1 — 10. you." Omitting, " Say, We are unprofitable servants
Verse 28 : for " Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all we have done which was our duty to do."
that
the prophets," :^Larcion read, " all the righteous,"* and Verse 14 " And he sent them away, saying, Go show
:

added " held

back " after " cast."" yourselves unto the priests," &c., in place of, " And when
—
Verses 29 35 of St. Luke's chapter were not in Mar- he saw them, he said unto them," &c.*
cion's Gospel. Verse 18 ran " These are not found returning to give
:

glory to God. And there were many lepers in the time

' In some of the most ancient codices of St. Lnke, "which art in heaTen"
is not found. Tldrtp, IMiru jrpof I'lfiai rA iiyiov irvevfia (Tou.
' Ifiov for iftirtpov.
• KXijaiv instead of Kpiaiv. * vitHv omitted.
' q rail' Xiiytov fiov fiiav Kfpaiav ir^ativ.
* ry iantpmj fvXaic^, for iv t§ StVTipf ^v\aK§ Kai Iv ry rpiry ^vKaKf. • Some codices of St. Luke have, XiOoc /ivXiicoc ; others, /iwXoc ivococ.

' iravraq Tovi SiKoioVQ. * 'AjrIoTtiAf V aiiTovg Xfyuv.

' iKPaXXofiivovf Kol rparov/ilfovc t(u.
254 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 255

of Eliseus the propliet in Israel ; and none of them was Verse 2 :

" And they began to accuse him, saying. We
cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian,"^ found this one perverting the nation, and destroying the
Cliap. XV. Law and the Prophets, and forbidding to give tribute to
Same as St. Luke
30, 35 xviii. 1
43. — — Caesar, and leading away the women and children."^
Verse 19: "Jesus said to him, Do not call me good; A'^crse 43 :
" Verily I say unto thee. To-day shalt thou
one is good, the Father.''^ be with me."^
Verses 31 —
34 were absent from Marcion's Gospel. Chap. xxL
Chap. xvL Same as St. Luke xxiv. 1—26, 28—51.
Same as St. Luke xix. 1 — 28. Verse 25 :
"0 fools and sluggish-hearted in believing
Verses 29 —48 absent. all tliose things wliich he said to you," in place of, " in

Verse 9 :
" For that he also is a son of Abraham," was believing all those things which the prophets spake."'
not in Marcion's text. Verse 27 was omitted.
Chap. xvii. Verse 32 :
" And wliile he opened to us the Scrip-
Same as St. Luke xx. 1—8, 19—36, 39—47. tures." omitted.
Verses 9 — 18 not in ]Marcion's Gospel. Verse 44: "These are the words which I spake unto
Verse 19 :
" The}' perceived that he had spoken this you, while I was yet with you." Wh.at follows in St.
parable against them," not in Marcion's text. Luke, " that must be fulfilled, which were
all things
Verse 35 :
" But they which shall be accounted worthy written in the Law
and tlie Prophets, and the
of Moses,
of God to obtain that world," &c.' Psalms, concerning me," was omitted.
Verses 37, 38, omitted. Verse 45 was omitted.
Chap, xviii. Verse 46 ran " That thus it behoved Christ to suffer."
:

Same as St. Luke xxi. 1—17, 19, 20, 23— 38. (fee; so that the whole sentence read, "These are the

Verses 18, 21, 22, were not in Marcion's Gospel words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with
Chap. xix. you. That thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise
from the dead the third day."
Same as St. Luke xxii 1—15, 19—27, 31—34, 39—
Verses 52 and 53 were omitted.
48, 52—71.
Verses absent were therefore 16—18, 28—30, 35—38,
' Ka'i KaTaXvovra tov vo/iov Kni roi'c irpo^^rag after ^cwrpf^ovrn to
45—51. lOvo^s and Kni avaaTfiifovra rdf yvvaiKag Kni rd rUva after ^vpoVQ fit]

Chap. XX. iodvai.

Same as St. Luke xxiiL * Iv Tip TrnnaSciaiii omitted. Possilily the wliole verse was omitted.
' olf i'\a\>i(Tfv i'filv, instead of l\a\jianv oi Trpo^ijrni. Volckmar thinks
•
^)) 6 dX^o-yf I'ljc oi'rog omitted ; the previons qaestion, Ovx ivpiBtianv
that in v. 19, "of Nazareth" was omitted, but neither St. Epiphanius nor
K. r. X., made positive ; and Luke iv. 27 inserted.
Tertullian sa; so.
• M^ Hf \iyt ayaOoV iIq lanv ayadoQ, b jrar^p.
' vvti Tov Bcoi) inserted.
256 I-OST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 257

I shall uow make a few remarks on some of the the Gospel, as that evangelist was a devoted follower of
passages absent from Marcion's Gospel, or wliicb, in it,
St. Paul. If he did not do so, it was because at Sinope
differfrom the Canonical Gospel of St. Luke. the Gospel read in the Church was not known by his
1. was not attributed to St. Luke.
It It was To name.
EmyytAiof, not Kara Aoi'Kui'. TertuUian explicitly says, 2. Marcion's Gospel was without the Preface, Luke i.

"Marcion inscribes no name on his Gospel,"^ and in the 1—4.

" Dialogue on the Right Faith " it is asserted that he This Preface is certainly by St. Luke, but was added,
protested his Gospel was the Gospel, the only one and ;
we may conjecture, after the final revision of his Gos-

that the multiplicity of Gospels used by Catholics, and pel, when he issued the second edition. Its absence

their discrepancies, were a proof that none of these other from ]\Iarcion's Gospel shows that it did not accompany

Gospels were genuine. He even went so far as to assert tlie first edition.

that his Gospel was written by Christ,^ and when closely 3. The narrative of the nativity, Luke i. ii., is not in

pressed on this point, and asked whether Christ wrote ]\Iarcion's Gospel.

the account of his own passion and resurrection, he said It has been sui)posed by critics that he omitted this

it was so, but afterwards hesitated, and asserted that it

narrative purposely, because his Christ was descended
was probal)ly added by St. Paul. from the highest God, had no part with the world of the
This shows plainly enougli that Marcion had received Demiurge, and had therefore no earthly mother.^ But
if so, why did Marcion suffer the words, " Thy mother
the Gospel, probably from the Church of Sinope, where
it was the only one known, and that he had heard
and thy brethren stand without desiring to see thee"
Luke as its author; knew (Luke vui. 20), to remain in his Gospel ?
nothing about St. indeed,
nothing of its origin. He treated it with the utmost And it does not appear that INIarcion denied the
incarnation in toto, and went to the full extreme of
veneration, and in his veneration for it attributed its
authorship to the Lord himself ; supposing the words of Docetic doctrine. On the contrary, he taught that
Christ deceived the God
by coming into
of this World,
St. Paul, "the Gospel of Ciirist,"^ "the Gospel of his
it as a man. would be his
The Demiurge trusted he
Son,"* " the Gospel of God,"^ to mean that Jesus Clmst
lilessiah, to confirm the Law for ever. But when he
was the actual author of the book.
saw that Christ was destroying the Law, he inflicted on
Marcion, it may be remarked, would have had no
him deatli. And this was only possible, because Christ
objection to acknowledging St. Luke as the compiler of
was, through his human nature, subject to his power.
' Tert. adv. Marcion, iv. 2. "Marcion evangelio scilicet sno naUam It is a less violent supposition that in the Church of
adscribit nomen." Sinope tlie Gospel was, like that of St. Mark, without a
' 'Ev ian rb tvayyiXiov, 8 o XpiaToc lypaij/tv. narrative of the nativity and childhood of Jesus. It is
* Rom. i. 16, XT. 19, 29 ; 1 Cor. k. 12, 18 ; 2 Cor. it. 4, u. 13; probable, moreover, tliat the first two chapters of St.
Gal. 7.
The
i.
Luke's Gospel were added at a later period.
Rom. i. 9.
> Volokmar : Das Evangelium Marciona ; Leipzig, 1862, p. 54.
» Rom. i. 1, XV. 16 ; 1 Thess. ii. 2, 9 ; 1 Tim. i. 11.
258 LOST PATJLINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF TOE LORD. 259

account of the nativity and chiltlliood is taken from the touched after the abatement of the anti-legal excitement
mouths of the blessed Virgin Mary, of eye-witnesses, or can hardly be doubted. We shall see instances as we
contemporaries. " Mary kept all tliese things and pon- proceed.
dered them in her heart," and " His motlier kept all 4. The section relating to the Baptist (Luke iii. 2
these sayings in her heart." ^ This is our guaranty that 19), with which the most ancient Judaizing Gospels
the story IMary kept tliem in memory, and the
is true. opened, was absent from that of Marcion.
evangelist appeals to lier memory for them. So with John belonged to the Old Covenant; he could not
regard to the account of tlie nativity of the Baptist, therefore be regarded as revealing the Gospel of the
" All they that heard these things laid them up in their unknown God. This is thought Ijy Baur, Hilgenfeld
hearts." 2 To their recollections also the evangelist and Volckmar, to be the reason of the omission. But
appeals as his authority. the explanation is strained. I think it prol)able, as
Now it is not probable that St. Luke or St. Paul were stated above, tliat St. Luke when with St. Paul had not
brought in contact with the Virgin and the people about got tlie narrative of those who had heard and seen the
Hebron, relatives of the Baptist. Their lives were spent birth of the Baptist and his preaching beyond Jordan.
in Asia Minor. But St. John, we know, became the Had Marcion, moreover, objected to the Baptist as be-
guardian of the blessed Virgin after the death of Christ.' longing to the Old Covenant, he would not have suffered
Greek ecclesiastical tradition declares that she accom- the presence in his Gospel of the passage, Luke vii 24
panied him to ilphesus. But be may, 28, containing the high commendation of John, " This is
tliat as it St. John
almost certainly would have tenderly and reverently he of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger
collected the " memorabilia " of the blessed Mother con- before thy face, which shall prepare the way before
cerning her Divine Son's birth and infancy. thee."
John had the organizing and disciplining of the
St. 5. no mention in Marcion's Gospel of the
There is

" Asiatic "churches founded by St. Paul after the re- baptism of our Lord (Luke iii. 21, 22). Tliis is given
moval of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Wlien he came very briefly in St. Luke's Gospel. To the Nazarene
to Ephesus, and went through the Churches of Asia Church this event was of the utmost importance it was ;

Minor, he found a Gospel compiled by St Luke in regarded as the beginnihg of the mission of Jesus, the
general use. To this he added such particulars as were by God of his Messiahship, and therefore tlie
ratification

expedient to complete it, amongst others the " recollec- Gospels of Mark and of the Hebrews opened with it.
tions " of St. IVIary,
and the relatives of the Baptist. It But the significance was not so deeply felt by the
is most probable that he gave them to St. Luke to work Similarities, identity of expression,
same hand which wrote the rest.
into his narrative, and thus to fofm a second edition almost prove this. Oonlpare i. 10 and ii. 13 with viii. 37, ix. 37, xxiii. 1
20 with and 20 with
of his Gospel.* That the Gospel of St. Luke was re- also i. 10 with xiv. 17, xxii. 14 ; i. xxii. 27, i. xii. 3,

xii. 44 ; i. 22 with xxiv. 23 ; i. 44 with vii. 1, ix. 44 ;

also i. 45 with
< Luke ii. 19, 51. ' Luke i. 66. * John zix. 26. X. 23, xi. 27, 28 ; also i. 48 with ix. 38 ; i. 66 with ix. 44 ;
L 80 with
ii. 14 with
* This wM Bome time prior to the composition of St. John'i QospeL ix. 61 ; ii. 6 with iv. 2 ; ii. 9 with xxiv. 4 ; 10 with v. 10
ii. ;

The first two chapters of St. Luke's Qospel were written apparently by the xix. 18 ; ii. 20 with xix. 37 j ii. 25 with xxiii. 50 ; iL 26 with Lr. 20.
 260 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORP. 201

Gentile converts, and therefore the circumstance is the Temptation, it would have mightily strengthened
despatched in a few words.
his position.
6. The genealogy of Joseph is not
given (Luke iii 8. The " Gospel of our Lord " opens with the words,
23—38). This is not to be wondered at. It is an " In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Csesar, Pontius Pilate
evidently late interpolation, clumsily foisted
into the ruling in Jud;ea (j^ys/iovevoi/Tos in place of €TriTpoTrti'ovTo$,
sacred text, rudely inteiTupting tlie narrative.
an unimportant difference), Jesus came down to Caper-
(21): "Now when all tlie people were baptized, it naum, a city of Galilee, and straiglitway on the Sabbath
came to pass that Jesus also being baptized,
and pray- days, going into the synagogue, he taught" {(htkOiiv eh
ing, the heaven opened, (22) and the Holy Ghost de- in place of Koi SiSdaKuiv avTOVS tv
Tr/v (Tvvaydyyrjv eSiOacrKf
scended in a bodily shape like a dove upon hira, and
a Tois (Tafifiaaiv), again an unimportant variation.
voice came from heaven, which said. Thou art my
beloved 9. The words "Jesus of Nazareth"* are in Marcion's
Son in thee I am well pleased, (iv. 1) And Jesus This may have been done
; : Gospel simply "Jesus."
being fidl of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan,
and by Marcion on purpose. But there is no evidence that
was led by the Spirit into the wilderness." Such is the it was omitted in xxiv. 19.
natural order. But it is interrupted by the generation 10. Tlie order of events, as given in Luke iv., is
of Joseph, the supposed fatlier of Jesus, from
Adam. changed. Jesus, in Marcion's Gospel, goes first to Ca-
This generation does not concern Jesus at all, but it pernaum, and then to Nazareth, reversing the order in
came througli some Jewisli Christians into the hands of St. Luke.
the Church in Asia Minor, and was forced between the
joints of the sacred text, to the interruption of the nar-
The Gospel op thb Lord . Thk Gospel of St. Ldkb,
rative and the succession of ideas.* Marcion had it not iv. 14—40.
in the Gospel brouglit from Pontus. 9. Christ goes to Capernaum, 1. Christ comes into Galilee, and

The narrative of the Temptation and enters the synagogue to the fame of him goes round
7. is not in Marcion 's
teach. about (14).
Gospel. It can have been no omission of liis, for it
10. All are a.^onished at bis doc- 2. He teaches in the synagogues
would have admirably with his doctrine. He
tallied trine and power. of Galilee, being glorified of
held that tlie God of this world believed Clirist at first IL He heals the demoniac. all (15).

to be the Messiah, but finally 12. All are amazed at his power. 3. He comes to Nazareth, and
was undeceived. In the
14. He enters Simon's house, and goes into the synagogue (16).
nan-ative of the Temptation the devil offers Christ all heals his wife's mother. 4 . He opens Esaias, and interprets
the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. He 13. His fame spreads. his prophecy (17 — 21).

takes tlie position which in Marcion's sclieme was occu- 2. He teaches in the synagogues, 5. All bare him witness, and
being glorified of all. wonder at his gracious words,
pied by the Demiurge. Had he possessed the record of he not Joseph's
3. He comes to Nazareth, and goes but ask if is

into the synagogue. son (22).

* The descent
of the Holy Ghost in bodily shape eTpliins why in iv. 1 S. All bare him witness, and 6. Christ quotes a proverb, and
he said to have been full of the Holy Ghost.
is I suspect the narratiTe of wonder at his gracious words. combats it (23—27).
the nnction occurred here. This was removed to cut off occasion to Docetic
error, and the gap was clumsily filled with an useless genealogy. ' ValapaioQ for Na^opijvuc omitted.
262 LOST PAULINE GOSPEI,S. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 263

6. Christ quotes a prorerb, and 7. The Naznrenes seek to throw after Christ had taught in Nazareth and Capernaum ; in
combats it. him down a precipice (28,
Marcion's Gospel it was before he had been to Nazareth,
7. The NazarencB seek to throw 20).
him down a precipice. 8. He escapes, and goes to Caper- but immediately after the healing of Simon's wife's
8. He escapes, and goes to Caper- nnum (30, 31). mother. It ought probably to occupy the place assigned
"*""•• He teaches in the synagogne at
9. it in Marcion's text. The fame of Christ spreads. They
15. At sunset he heals the sick. Capernaum (31).
in Nazareth hear of it, and say, " What we have heard
10. All are astonished at his doc-
trine and power (32).
done in Capernaum, do also here."
11. He heals the demoniac (33 Par. 15:" Now when the sun was setting, all they
35). that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto
12. All are amazed at bis power
him," &c., as in St. Luke iv. 40, 41. This Marcion's
(36).
13. His fame spreads (37). Gospel has inmiediately after the healing of the sick wife
14. He enters Simon's house, and of Simon, as tliough the rumour of the miracle attracted
heals his wife's mother (38,
all who had sick relations to bring them to Christ. No
39).
15. At sunset he heals the sick (40).
doubt the paragraph should rightly stand in connection
with tliis miracle of healing the fevered womaiL
By placing the subject-matter of the two narratives But there are omissions supposed to have been made
side by side, and numbering that of
St. Luke cou.secu- purposely by Marciou. In verse 16 of St. Luke's Gospel,
tively, and giving the corresponding paragraphs, with 0. iv. :
" He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought
their numbers as in Luke's order, arranged in the Rlar- He came to Naza-
up," in the " Gospel of the Lord" ran, "
cionite succession, the reader is able at once to see the reth" only.But it is not improbable that " where he had
difference. No doctrinal question was touched by this been brought up" was a gloss which crept into the text
transposition. The only explanation of it Avhich is satis- after the addition of the narrative of the early years of

factory is that each Gospel contained fragments which Christ had been added to the Canonical GospeL
were piece'ij together dillerently. One block consisted All the reading from the prophet Esaias, and the expo-
of paragraphs 2 —8 ; another, of paragraphs 9 — 14 sition of the prophecy (Luke iv. —
17 21) was omitted,
another 15. , Besides these blocks, there were chips, there can be small question, by Marcion, because it
splinters, the paragraphs 1, 13, 15. Maicion's Gospel mutilated against his views touching the prophets as
was without 1 and 4. ministers, not of the God of Christ, but of the God of

Par. 2, verse 15: "He taught in their syiiagngues, this world.

being glorified of aU," was common to both Gospels. In Luke Do also here in thy country," changed
iv. 23 :
"

Marcion's, most appropriately, it came after Christ has into, "Do also here." It is possible that "in thy
performed miracles; less judiciously in Luke's does it country" may be a gloss which has crept into a later
come before the performance of miracles. text of St. Luke's Gospel, or was inserted by Luke in

Par. 13 " And the fame of him went out into every
:
his second edition.

place of the country round about." St. Luke put this 11. Luke vii 29 —35 are wanting in Marcion's Gospel.
264 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 265

That verses 29 — 32
should have been purposely ex- from the wise and prudent ? The reading in Marcion's
cluded, it is impossible to suppose, as they favoured Gospel is not only a better one, but it also appears to
Marcion's tenets. been argued that the rest of
It has be an independent one. He has, " I praise and thank
the verses, 33 35, —
were cut out by Marcion because in thee." The received text differs in different cocUces ; in
verse 34 it is said, The Son of Man is come eating and
"
some, Jesus rejoices " in the Spirit ;" in others, " in the
drinking and ye say, Leliold a gluttonous man and a
;
Holy Spirit."
winebibber." I'ut the "Gospel of the Lord" contained 14. Luke
X. 22 "All things are delivered to me of
:

Luke V. 33 " Why do the disciples

: of Jolni fast often, my and no man hath known the Father save
Fatlier,
and make long prayers, and lilcewise the disciples of tlie the Son, nor the Son save the Father, and he to whom
Pharisees but thine eat and drink ;" and the example
; the Son hath revealed him." No doctrinal purpose was
of Christ going to the feast prepared by Levi is retained effected l)y the change. It is therefore probable that
(v. 29). the Sinoj)e Gospel ran as in ]\Iarcion's text.
12. Luke viiL 19 :
" Then came to him his mother 15. Luke x. 25: " Doing what shall I obtain life?"
and his brethren," &c., omitted; but the next verse, " eternal " being omitted, it is thought, lest Jesus should
" And it was told him by curtain which said, Thy mother seem was to be obtained by
to teach that eternal life
and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee." fulfilling the But Marcion did not alter the same
Law.^
This cannot be admitted as a mutilation by ^larcion. question when asked by the ruler, in Luke xviii. 18 for ;

Had he cut out verse 19, he woiUd also have removed then Christ, after he has referred him to the Law, goes
verse 20. Katlier is verse 19 an amplification of the on to impose on him a higher law that of love. But —
original text. The "saying" was known in
of Jesus " eternal " may be an addition to Luke's text in the
the " Asiatic" churches ; and when Luke wove it into second edition.
the text of his Gospel, he introduced it with the words, 16. The first petition in the Lord's Prayer differs in
"Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and JMarcion's Gospel from that in St. Luke. ]\Iarcion lias,

could not come at him for the press," words not neces- " Fatiier ! may thy Holy Spirit come to us, Tliy kingdom
sary, but deducil)le from the preserved text, and useful come," &c., instead of, " Father ! (which art in heaven
as introducing it. not in the most ancient copies of St. Lxike) Hallowed
13. Luke 21: "In that hour he rejoiced in the
X. be thy name," &c. No purpose was served by this dif-

spirit, and said, I praise and tliank thee. Lord

of heaven, ference, and we must not attribute to Marcion in this

that those tilings which are hidden from the wise and instance wilful alteration of the sacred text. It is ap-

prudent thou hast revealed to babes." The version in parent that several versions of the Lord's Prayer existed
Luke's Gospel may have been tampered with l)y age of the Church, and that this was
]\lar- in the first tlie

appear harsh in liiding " tliose which was accepted and used in Pontus, per-
cion, lest God should form in it

things from the wise and prudent." But it is more haps throughout Asia Minor.
likely that Marcion's text is the correct one. Why * Tertul. adv. Marcion, iv. c. 25, "ut doctor de ea vita videatur con-
should Christ thank God tliat he has hidden the truth Euluisse, qu» in lege promittitur longsva."

N
266 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 267'

That the Lord's Prayer in St. Luke's Gospel stood glory in thefirst watch, they altered the text to " the
originally as in Marcion's Gospel is made almost certain second watch or the third watch." Consequently Mar-
by verse 13. After giving the form of prayer, xi. 2 —4, cion's text is the original unaltered one.
Christ instructs his disciples on the readiness of God 20. Luke xii. 6, 7 " Are not five sparrows sold for
:

to answer prayer. "

And," he continues, " if ye then, two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your God ? But even the very hairs of your head are all
cluldren how much more shall your heavenly Father
;
numbered. Fear not therefore ye are of more value
;

give the Holy Spirit to them that ask liim?" How than many spaiTOws." Perhaps Marcion omitted this
ready will He be to give that which you have learned because he did not hold tliat the Supreme God con-
to ask in the first petition of the prayer I have just cerned Himself with the fate of men's bodies.
taught you! The petition was altered in the received But more probably the passage did not occur in the
text later, to accommodate it to the form given in St. original Pauline Gospel, but was giafted into it after-
Matthew's Gospel. wards wlien St. IMatthew's Gospel came into the hands
17. Luke xi. 29 " There shall no sign be given."
:
of tlie Asiatic Christians, when it was transferred from
What follows in St. Luke's Gospel, "but the sign of it (x. 29 — 31) verbatim to Luke's Gospel
the pro])het Jonas," and verses 30 — 32, were not found 21. Marcion's Gospel was without Luke xiii. 1 — 10.
in Marcion's Gospel. Perhaps all this was inserted in The absence of the account of the Galileans, whose
the second edition of St. Luke's Gospel. But also per- blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, and of
haps the allusions to the Ninevites and the Queen of the those on whom the tower in Sdoam fell, which occurs in
South were omitted, because of the condemnation pro- the received text, removes a difficulty. St. Luke says,
nounced on the generation whicli received not Christ " There were present at that season some that told him
through them and Jesus was not the manifestation of
; of the Galilajans, whose blood," &c., as though it were a
the God of judgment, but of the God of mercy. circumstance which liad just taken place, whereas this
18. So also "judgment" was turned into "calling," in act of barbarity was committed when Quirinus, not
verse 42 and also the verses 49
;
51, in which the blood — Pilate,was governor, twenty-four years before the ap-
of tlie prophets is said to be "required of this gene- pearance of Jesus. And no tower in Siloam is men-
ration." tioned in any account of Jerusalem. The mention of
" is perhaps
19. Luke xii.38 " The evening watch
: the GaUlseans in the canonical text has the appearance
an earlier he shall
reading than the received one :
" If of an anachronism, and probably did not exist in the
;"
come in the second watch, or come in the third watch Gospel wliich Marcion received, and was a late addition
which has the appearance of an expansion of the sinii)ler to the Gospel of Luke.
text. The parable which follows may, how-
of the fig-tree
The evening watch was the first watch. The Chris- ever, have been removed by Marcion lest the Supreme
tians in the age thought that our Lord would come
iirst God should appear as a God of judgment against those
a^ain immediately. But as he did not return again in who produced no fruit, Ic. did no works. But it is
N 2
268 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 2G9

more probable that this parable, \vhich has an anti- "sit down
in the kingdom of God" come "from the east
Pauline moral, was not in the original edition of Luke's and from the west, and from the north and fiom the
Gospel. south," that is to say, are Gentiles.
22. Luke xiii. 28: weeping and
"There shall be In Marcion's text we have therefore the dSiKaloi shut
gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and and cast out, and the SiKaloi sitting ovcrthroncd in the
Isaac, and Jacob, and all tlie prophets, in the kingdom kingdom of God. It can scarcely be doubted that this
of God, and you yourselves thrust out," altered into, is the correct reading, and that "Abraham, Lsaac and
" when ye shall see all the righteous in the kingdom of Jacob," was substituted for SiKaloi at a later period with
God, and ye yourselves cast and held back without."^ a conciliatory purpose.
The change of "the righteous" into "Abraham, and The rest of the chapter, 31 — 35, is not to be found in
Isaac, and Jacob," in the deutero-Luke, clearly disturbs Maicion's Gospel. Tlie first who and the
are to be last,
the train of thought. Ye Jews shall weep when ye see last first, not obscurely means that the Gentiles shall
the SiKai'oi, those made righteous through faith, by the precede the Jews. This was in the " Gospel of the
righteousness which is not of the Law, Gentiles from East Lord," which was, however, without the warning given
and West, in the kingdom, and ye yourselves cast out. Get thee out, and depart hence for Herod
to Clirist, " ;

Hilgenfold thinks that the account of the Judgment Avill and the lamentation of the Saviour over
kill thee,"

liy St. ]\Iatthew and St. Luke is couched in terms the holy city, " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest
coloured l)y the respective parties to which the CA'an- the prophets," &c. Why JMarcion should omit this is

gelists belonged, and that the sentences on the lost are not clear. was probably not in the Gospel of Sinope.
It

sharpened to pierce the antagonistic party. Thus, in the 23. —

Luke xiv. 7 11. The same maybe said of the
Gospel of St. Luke, Christ dooms to woe those who are parable put forth to tliose bidden to a feast, when Christ
workers of xmrighleousness, ipydrai uoikios,^ using the marked how they chose out tlie chief rooms. It has been
Pauline favourite expression to designate those wlio are supposed by critics that Marcion omitted it, lest Jesus
cast out to Aveeping and gnashing of tcetli, as men who should seem to sanction feasting; but this reason is far-
have not received tlie righteousness which is of faith fetched, and it must be remembered that he did retain
whereas, in St. ]Mattliew it is the workers of anomia, Luke v. 29 and 33.
oi t,iyaio/«iot Ti)v di-o/itai-,' by wliicli Hilgeufeld tliinks 24 Luke xv. 11—32. Tlie parable of the Prodigal
the Pauline anti-legalists are not obscurely hinted at, Sou is omitted. That it is left out, as is suggested by
who are hurled into outer darkness. In St. Luke it is some critics, because the elder son signifies mystically

curious to notice how the lost are described as Jews: the JcM-ish Church, and the prodigal son represents the
" We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou Heathen world, is to transfer such allegorical interpre-
hast taught in our streets;" whereas the elect who tations back to an earlier age than we are justified in

doing. ]\Iarcion was not bound admit such an inter-

to
' oral' ii^f/iial^' TTiivrng rorg f inroi'oi'c li> ry paiTi\fl(f Tov O^nr. i>fiag Si
received in his day. Marcion,
;'l.73n^^')/|^'""; »^"' Kiiaroi'jiii-oti:^ r£(i>. — E|>ipli. Scliol 40 ; Teilul. c. 30. pretation of the parable, if

» Luke xiii. 25—30. ' Malt. vii. 13.

270 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 271

moreover, opposed allegorizing the sayings of Scripture, do."' The whole parable has such a Pauline ring, that
and insisted on their literal interpretation. Neander it would probably have been accepted in its entirety by

says, "The other Gnostics united -nith their theosopliical Llarcion, if his Gospel had contained it; and the parable
idealism a mystical, allegorizing interpretation of the is divested of its point and meaning if only the
few
Scriptures. Marcion, sinii)le in heart, was decidedly words are omitted which St. Epiphanius mentions as
ojiposed to this artificial method of interpretation. He deficient.
was a zealous advocate of the literal interpretation 28. Luke "There are not found returning to
xvii. 18 :

which prevailed among the antagonists of Gnosticism."' give glory to God. And there were many lepers in the
It is therefore most improbable that a popular interpre- time of Eliseus the prophet in Israel and none of them ;

tation of this parable, if such an interpretation existed was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian." In the
at that time, should have induced IMarcion to omit the Gospel of the Lord, this passage concerning the lepers in
parable. ,^ the time of Eliseus occurs hcice ; once in chap. i. v. 15,
25. Luke xvi. 12 :
" If ye have not been faithful in as already given, and again here. It has been preserved
that which is another man's, who will give you that in St. Luke's Gospel in only one place, in that corre-
which is mine ?" Surely a reading fiir preferable to that sponding with ]\Iarcion i. 15, viz. Luke iv. 27.

in the Canonical Gospel, " who will give you that which It is clear that this was a fragmentary saying of our
is your own ?" Lord drifting about, which the compiler of the Sinope
26. Luke "One tittle of my words shall not
xvi. 17 : Gospel inserted in two places where it thought it would
in with other passages. When St. Luke's Gospel was
fall," One tittle of the Law shall not fall."
in place of, " fit

As has been already remarked, the reading in St. Luke revised, itwas found that this passage occurred tAvice,
and that was without appropriateness in chap. xvii.
is evidently corrupt, altered deliberately by the party of it

the genuine text. after verse 18, and was therefore cut out. But in Mar-
conciliation. IMarcion's is
Gospel it remained, a monument of the manner in
27. Luke xvii. 9, 10. The saying, "We are unprofit- cion's

able servants; we have done

that which was our duty to Avhich the Gospels were originally constructed.
by !Marcion, lest the Gospel 29. Luke xviii. 19. Marcion had: "Jesus said to
do," was perhaps omitted ;"

should seem to sanction the idea that any obligation him, Do not call me good one is good, the Father ;

whatever rested on the lieliever. The received text is another version of the text, not a deliberate alteration.
thoroughly Pauline, inculcating the worthlessness of 30. Luke xviii. 31—34 The prophecies of the pas-

man's righteousness. Hahn and Ritschl argue that sion omitted by ^larcion.
the whole of the parable, 7 — 10, was not in Marcion's Luke xix. 29 46.
31. — The ride into Jerusalem on
of the buyers and sellers from
Gospel ; and this is probable, though St. Epiphanius an ass, and the expulsion
only says that Marcion cut out, " are unprofitable We the Temple, are omitted.
have
we have done that which was our duty to Why the Palm-Sunday triumphal entry should
servants ;

iroijjcrai
> wapiKo^t t6- yiytTi, axpcloi cov\oi laixW 8 i^tiXofitv
* Hist, of the Christian Religion, tr. Bobn, ii. p. 131.
vnroir]Kafitv, Sch. 47.
272 LOST paulint; gospelb. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 273

been cxcliulcd does not appear. In St. Luke's Gospel
Jesus is not hailed as " King of the Jews " and " Son of
David." Had this been the case, these two titles, Ave
may conclude, would have been eliminated from the
head perish," omitted, perhaps, lest the God of heaven,
Avhom Christ revealed, should appear to concern himself
about the vile bodies of men, under the dominion of the
God of this world but more probably this verse did
;

narrative; but Ave see no reason why the avIioIo accmint not exist in the original text. The aAvkwardness of its
should be SAvcpt aAvay. It probably did not e.xist in the position has led many critics to reject it as an interpola-
original Gospel Marcion obtained in I'ontus. tion,' and the fact of ]\Iarcion's Gospel being Avithout it

l)id Marcion cut out the narrative of the expulsion of goes far to proA'e that the original Luke Gospel Avas

the buyers and sellers from the Temple ? I thiulc not. Avithout it.

St.John, in his Gospel, gives that event in his second 35. Luke xxi. 21, 22. The Avarning given by our
chapter as occurring, not at the close of the ministry of Lord to his disciples to flee from Jerusidem Avhen they
Christ, but at its opening. see it encompassed Avith armies. Verse 21 Avas omitteil
St.John is the only evangelist Avho can be safely re- no doubt because of the Avords, "These lie the days of
lied upon for giving the chronological order of events. vengeance, that all things Avhich are Avritten may be
St. ]\Iatthew, as has been already sliOAvn, did not Avrite This jarred Avith Marcion's conception of the
fulfilled."
the acts of our Lord, but his sayings only ;
and St. IMark Supreme God as one of mercy, and of Jesus as pro-
Avas no eye-witness. claiming blessings and forgiveness, in place of the
A I'auline Gospel Avould not contain the account of A-engeance and justice of the World-God.
the purifying of tlie Temple, and the saying, " 'Sly 3G. —
Luke xxii. 16 18. Tlie distribution of the pas-
house is the house of prayer." I'ut Aviien St. ]\IattheAv'3 chal cup among the disciples is omitted.
Gospel, or St. ]\[ark's, found its Avay into Asia IMinor, 37. Luke xxii. 28—30. The promise that the apostles
tills jiassagc Avas extracted from one of them, and inter- should eat and drink in Christ's kingdom and judge the
polated in the Lucan text, in the same place Avhcre it twelve tribes, was omitted by ]\Iarcion, as inconsistent
—
occm-red in tJiose Gospels at the end of the ministry, Avith his vicAvs of the spiritual nature of the heavenly
and therefore in the Avrong place. kingdom and that judgment shotdd be committed by
;

32. Luke xx. 9 — 18. The parable of the vineyard the God of free forgiveness to the apostles, was in his
and liie This Marcion probably omitted
husbandmen. sight impossible. Why Luke xxiii. 43, 47—49, were not
becan.se it made the Lord of the vineyard, who sent in ]\Iarcion's Gospel does not appear; they can hardly
forth the prophets, the same as the Lord avIio .sent his have been omitted purposely.
son. The lord of the vineyard to ^larcion Avas the 38. Luke In Marcion's Gospel it ran " And
xxiii. 2. :

Demiurge, but the Supreme Lord sent Christ. they began to accuse him, saying. We found this one
33. Luke xx. 37, 38, omitted by Marcion, because a perverting the nation, and destroying the Law and the
reference to ]Mo.ses, and God, as the God of Abraham, Prophets, and forbidding to giA-e tribute to Caisar, and
Isaac and Jacob. leading aAvay the Avomen and children."

34. Luke xxi. 18 :

" There shall not an hair of your ' Baiir calls it an " ungeschickte Zusatz."
N 3
274 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 275

It is not possible that Marcion should have forced
the words " destroying the Law and the Prophets " into
the text, for these are the accusations oi' false witnesses.
And this is precisely wliat
Marcion taught that Christ
had come to do. 13oth this accusation and that other,
that he drew away after hira tlie women and children
from their homes and domestic duties and responsi-
bilities, most probably did exist in the original text. It
is not improbable that tliey were both made to dis-
appear from the authorized text later, when the con-
ciliatory movement began.
39. Luke xxiv. 43. In Marcion's Gospel, either the
whole of the verse, " Verily, I say unto thee. To-day
shalt thou be with me in Paradise," was omitted, or
more probably only the words " in Paradise." Marcion
would not have purposely cut out such an instance of
free acceptance of one who had all his life transgressed
the Law, but he may have cancelled the words "in
Paradise."
40. Luke xxiv.25 stood in Marcion's Gospel, " O
fools, and in heart slow to believe all that he spake unto
you ;" and 27 and 45, which relate that Jesus explained
to the two disciples out of Moses and the Prophets how
he must suffer, and that he opened their understanding
to understand tlie Scrijitures, Avere both absent.
41. Luke xxiv. 4G. Instead of Christ appealing to
the Prophets, Alarcion made him "These are the
say,
words which I spake unto you, while I was yet Avith
you, that thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise
from the dead the third d.ay." This was possibly Mar-
cion's doing.
pel he is referred to the works indicated in tlie foot-
note.*
It will be seen from the list of differences between
the " Gospel of our Lord " and the Gospel of St. Luke,
that all the apparent omissions cannot be attributed to
Marcion. Tlie Gospel he had he regarded with supreme
awe was because his Gospel was so ancient, so hal-
; it
lowed by use through many years, tliat it was invested
by him with sovereign authority, and that he regarded
the other Gospels as apocryphal, or at best only deutevo-
canonical.
It is by no means certain that even where his Gospel
has been apparently tampered with to suit his views,
his hands made tlie alterations in it. "What amplifi-
cations St. Luke's Gospel passed through when it under-
went revision for a second edition, we cannot tell.
The Gospel of our Lord, if not the original Luke
— —
Gospel and this is probable was the basis of Luke's
compilation. But that it was Luke's first edition of his
Gospel, drawn up when St. I'aul was actively engaged
in founding Asiatic Cliurclies, is the view I am disposed
to take of it. As soon as a Church was founded, the
need of a Gospel was felt. To satisfy this want, Paul
employed Luke to collect memorials of the Lord's life,
and weave them together into an historical narrative.
The Gospel of our Lord contains nothing wliich is
not found in that of St. Luke. The arrangement is so
similar, tliat we are forced to the conclusion that it was
1 The Gospel is printed in Thilo's Codex Apocryph. Novi Testomenti,
Lips. 1832, T.L pp. 401^486. For critical examinations of it see
Bitsclil Das Evangelium Marcions ond das Kanonische Ev, Lucas,
:

The other differences between Marcion's Gospel and Tiibingen, 1846. Baur: Kritische Untersuchungen ttber die Kanonischen
Evangelien, Tubingen, 1847, p. 393 sq. Gratz Krit. Untersuchungen
:

the Canonical Gospel of St. Luke are so small, that

1818. Volckniar: Das Evangelium
iiber Marcions Evangelium, Tubing.
the reader need not be troubled witli tliem here. For Marcions, Leipz. 1852. Nicolas: Etudes sur les Evangiles Apocryphes,
a fuller and more particular account of Marcion's Gos- Paris, 1866, pp. 147—160.
276 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF THE LORD. 277

eitlier used
Luke, or that it wiis liis original com-
bj- St. recast by its we may be satisfied
author, that I think
position. used
it, then his right to the title of
If lie Marcion possessed. That he made a few erasures is
author of the third Canouical Gospel falls to the ground, probable, I may almost say certain but that he ruth-
;

as what lie added wa.s of small amount. Who then lessly carved it to suit his purpose cannot be establislied.
comiioscd the Gospel ? "We know of no one to whom Of the value of Marcion's Gospel for determining the
tradition even at that early age attributed it. original text of the third Gospel, it is difficult to speak
St. Luke was the associate of St. Paul ; ecclesiastical too highly.
tradition attributes to liim a Gospel. That of " Our
Lord" closely resembles the Canonical Luke's Gospel,
and bears evidence of being earlier in composition,
whilst that which is canonical bears evidence of later
manipulation. All these facts point to IMarcion's Gospel
as the original St. —
Luke not, however, quite as it came
to IMarcion, but edited by the heretic.
That the first edition of Luke bore a stronger Pauline
impress than the second is also probable. The Canonical
Luke has the Pauline stamiJ cm it still, but beside it is
the Johaunite seal. Slore fully than any other Gospel
does it bring out the tenderness of Christ towards sin-
ners, a feature which has ever made it exceeding jirecious
to those who have been captives and blind and bruised,
and to whom that Gospel proclaims Christ as their deli-
verer, eulightcner and healer.^
It is not necessary here to point out the finger-mark
of Paul in this Gospel it has been often and well done
;

by others. It is an established fact, scarcely admitting

dispute, that to him it owes its colour, and that it
rellccts his teaching.-
And it was this Gospel, in its primitive form, befor.i
it had passed under the hands of St. John, or had been

' Luke iv. 18.

' Luke iv. 23 ; compare vi. 13 with JLitt. x. and Luke x. 1—16, vii.

36—50, X. 38—42, xvii. 7—10, xvii. 11—19, x. 30—37, xv. 11—32;

—
Luke ziii. 25 30, compared with Matt. vii. 18 ; Luke vii. 50, viii. 48,
xTiii. 42, &c.
 GOSPEL OF TRUTH. 279

But he did not follow him The speculations

blindly.
of the Gnostic kindled a train of ideas which were pecu-
liarly Valentine's own.
The age was not one to listen patiently to his theo-

II.
THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH.
Valentine, by birth an Eg}'ptian, proljably of Jewish
descent, it may be presumed received his education at
Alexandria. From this city he travelled to Rome (circ.
A. D. 140) in both places he preached the Catholic
;
faith, and then retired to Cyprus.^ A miserable bigotry
which refused to see in a heretic any motives but those
which are evil, declared that in disgust at not obtaining
rizing. Menwere called on to bear testimony by their
lives to facts. They could endure the rack, the scourge,
the thumbscrew, the iron rake, for facts, not for ideas.
That Jesus had lived and died and mounted to heaven,
was enough for their simple minds. They cared nothing,
they made no effort to understand, what were the causes
of evil, what its relation to matter.
Consequently Valentine met witli cold indifference,
then with hot abhorrence. He was excommunicated.
Separation embittered him. His respect for orthodoxy
was gone its hold upon him was lost and he allowed
; ;

a bishopric wliich he coveted, and to Avhich a confessor himself to drift in the wide sea of theosophic speculation
was preferred, Valentine lapsed into heresy. We need wherever his ideas carried him.
no such explanation of the cause of his secession from Valentine taught that in the Godhead exerting creative
orthodoxy. lie was a man of an active mind and ardent —
power were manifest two motions a positive, the evolv-
zeal. Christian doctrine was then a system of facts; ing, creative, life-giving element; and the negative,
theology was as yet unborn. What philosophic truths which determined, shaped and localized the creative
lay at the foundation of Christian belief was unsus- force. From the positive force came life, from the
pected. Valentine could not thus rest. He strove to negative tlie direction life takes in its manifestation.
break through tlie liard facts to the principles on which The world is the revelation of the divine ideas, gi-adu-
they reposed. He was a pioneer in Christian theology. aUy unfolding themselves, and Christ and redemption
And venturous essay he was well qualified.
for his are the perfection and end of creation. Through crea-
His studies at Alexandria had brought him in contact tion the idea goes forth from God ; through Christ the
with riiilonism and ^i-ith Platonism. He obtained at idea perfected returns to the bosom of God. Eederap-
Cyprus .an acquaintance with the doctrines of Basilides. tion is the recoil wave of creation, the echo of the fiat
His mind caught fire, liis ideas expanded. Tlie Gnostic returning to the Creator's ear.
seemed to him to open gleams of light through the facts The manifestation of the ideas of God is in unity; but
of the faith he had hitherto professed with dull, unintel- in opposition to unity exists anarchy; in antagonism
ligent submission and lie placed Iiimself under the in-
; with creation emerges the principle of destruction. Tlie
spiration and instruction of Basilides. representative of destruction, disunion, chaos, is Satan.

' He died about A. D. 160. The work of creation is infinite differentiation in perfect
 GOSPEL OF TRUTH. 281
280 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS.

In all this we see the influence of ^larcion's ideas.

harmony. But in the midst of this emerges discord, an
element of opposition which seeks to ruin the concord
We need not follow out this fundamental principle
Therefore of his theosophy into all its fantastic formularies. If
in tlie manifestation of the divine ideas.
Valentine was the precursor of Itegcl in the enunciation
redemption necessary, and Christ is the medium of
is
of the universal antuiomy, he Avas like Hegel also in
redemption, Avhich consists in tlie restoration to harmony
involving his system in a cloud of incomprehensible
and unity of that which by the fraud of Satan is thrown
terminology, in producing bewilderment where he sought
into disorderand antagonism.
simplicity.
But how comes it that in creation there slioidd be a
Valentine accepted the Old Testament, but only in
disturbing element ? That clement nmst issue in some
the same light as he regarded the great works of the
manner from the Creator; it must arise from some
heathen writers to be deserving of regard.^ Both con-
defect in Ilim. Therefore, Valentinian concluded, the
being tained good, noble examjdes, pure teaching but in both ;"

God who created the world and gave source to the

perfect also was the element of discord, contradictory teaching,
have been the supreme, all-good,
of Satan cainiot
and bad example. Ptolemy, the Valentinian who least
God. sacrificed the moral to the theosophic element, scarcely
But redemption be the perfecting of man, it must
if
dealt with the Old Testament differently from St. Paul,
be the work of the only perfect
God, who thereby
lie did not indeed regard the Old Testament as the
up through the im-
counteracts tlie evil that has sprung
work of the Supreme God the Mosaic legislation
;

perfection of the Demiurge. seemed to him to be the work of an inferior being, be-
Therefore Jesus Christ an emanation from the
is
cause, as he said, it contained too many imperfections
effects produced in the
Supreme God, destroying the ill
to be the revelation of the Highest God, and too many
Creator, undoing the
world by the faulty nature of the excellences to be attributed to an evil spirit. But, like
discord and restoring all to harmony. the Apostle of the Gentiles, he saw in the Mosaic cere-
Jesus Tv-as formed by the
Demiurge of a wondrously
monies only symbols of spiritual truth, and, like him, he
to the outward sense.
constituted ethereal body, visible thought that the symbol was no longer necessary when
through man, as a sun-
This Jesus entered the world the idea it revealed was manifested in all its clearness.
window. The
beam a chamber through the
enters Therefore, when the ideas these symbols veiled had
Demiur-e created Jesus to redeem the people from the
reached and illumined men's minds, the necessity for
of Satan, to be their
disorganizing, destructive effects them —husks to the idea, letters giving meaning to the
Llessiah.
y to
r u
perfect
4. thought —was at an end.
Supreme God had alone power
]]ut the Like St. Paul, therefore, he treated the Old Testament
the baptism of Christ,
accomplish this work therefore at
;
as a preparation for the New
one, but as nothuig more.
the Saviour (Soter) descended
on him, consecratmg him
"We ascertain Ptolemy's views from a letter of his to
of mankind, conveying to
to be the perfect Bedeemer
Clem. Alex. Strom,
Demiurge could not ' vi.

him a mission and power which the

have given.
282 LOST PAULmB GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF TRUTH. 283

Flora, a Catholic lady whom he desired -to convert to tion of Luke xii. 8, has been preserved by Clement of
Valentini anism.' Alexandria.'
In he laboured to show that the God of
this letter Heracleon was a man of deep spiritual piety, and
this world Demiurge) was not the Supreme God,
(tlie with a clear understanding. He held Scripture in pro-
and that the Old Testament Scriptures were the revela- found reverence, and derived his Valentinian doctrines
tion of the Demiurge, and not of the highest God. To from it. So true is the saying
prove the first point, Ptolemy appealed to apostolic tra- " Hie liher est in quo quaerit sua dogmata quisque,
dition —no doubt to Pauline teaching which had come — Invenit pariter dogmata quisque sua."
down to him, and to the words of the Saviour, by which,
His interpretation of the narrative of the interview of
he admits, all doctrine must be settled. In this letter
the Saviour with the woman of Samaria wiU illustrate
he quotes largely from St. Paul's Epistles, and from the
his method of dealing with the sacred text.
Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John.
Heracleon saw in the woman of Samaria a type of all
Like Marcion, Ptolemy insisted that the Demiurge,
was also the God who revealed spiritual natures attracted by that whicli is heavenly,
the God of this world,
godlike and the history represents the dealings of the
liimself in the Old Testament, and that to tliis God be- ;

Supreme God through Christ with these spiritual natures

longed justice, wrath and punishment whereas to the ;

(irvtv/taTiKoiJ.
Supreme Deity was attributed free forgiveness, absolute
therefore he
For him, therefore, the words of the woman have a
goodness. The Saviour abolished the Law,
that the double meaning that which lies on the surface of the
:

abolished all the system of punisliment for sin,

sacred record, with tlie intent and purpose Avhich the
reign of free grace might prevail.
woman herself gaA^e to them and that which lay be-
;

According to Ptolemy, therefore, retributive justice

the nature
neath the letter, and which was mystically signified.
exercised by the State was irreconcilable with " The water which our Saviour gives," says he, " is his
Supreme God, and the State, accordingly, was
of the
spiiit and power. His gifts and grace are what can
under the dominion of the Demiurge.
never be taken away, never exhausted, can never fail
To the revelation of the old Law belonged ordinances
to those wlio have received them. They who have re-
of ceremonial and of seasons. These also are done away
ceived what has been richly bestowed on them from
ceremonial to
by Christ, who leads from the bondage of above, communicate again of the overflowing fulness
spiritual religion.
who which they enjoy to the life of others."
Another Valentinian of note was Heracleon, But the woman asks, " Give me this water, that I
John, of which
wrote a Commentary on the Gospel of St.
by Ongen thirst not, neither come hither to draw
"
—
hither that —
considerable fragments have been preserved
is, to Jacob's well, the Mosaic Law from which hitherto
Commentary on the Gospel of St.
and perhaps, also, a she had drunk, and which could not quench her thirst,
Luke. Of the latter, only a single fragment, the exposi-
satisfy her aspirations. " She left her water-pot behind
' Epipban. HtereB. xix. 3 — 7.
> Strom, ir.
284 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. noSPEL OF TPiUTH. 285

her" vlien she went to anuouiice to otlieis tliat she liad taken. The relation of Valentine's ideas to those of
found the well of eternal life. That is, she left the ^larcion, and those of l\Iarcion to the doctrines of St.
vessel, the capacity for receiving the Law, for she had Paul, are fundamental. Put, moreover, they claimed a
now a spiritual vessel which could hold the spiritual filiation more obvious than tliat of ideas — tiiey asserted
water the Saviour gave. that tlicy derived their doctrines from Tlieodas, disciple
It will be seen that Yalentinianisni, like j\[arcionisin, of tlie Apostle of the Gentiles.' The great importance
was an exaggerated Paidinisni, infected with Gnosticism, they attributed to the Epistles of St. Paul is another
clearly antinoniian. Though the Yalentinians are not evidence of their belonging to the anti-judaizing family
accused of licentiousne.ss, their ethical system was plainly of heretics, if another proof be needed.
immoral, for it completely emancipated the Christian The Yalentinians possessed a number of apocryphal
works. " Tlieir nund)er says Irenjcus.^
from every and the true Christian was he who
restraint, is infinite,"

lived by faith only. He had passed by union with But tliis prol)ably applies not to the first Yalentinians,
Christ from the dominion of the God of this World, a but to the Yalentiniau sects, among wliom apocryphal
dominion in which were pimishments for wrong-doing, works did abound. Certain it is, that in all the extracts
into the realm of Grace, of sublime indifference to right made from tlie Avritings of Valentine, Ptolemy and
and wrong, to a region in A\hicli no acts were sinful, no Heracleon, by Origen, Epiphanius, Tertullian, &c., though

punishments Avere dealt out. they abound in quotations from St. Paul's Epistles and

If Yalentinianism did not degenerate into the frantic

from the Canonical Gospels, there are none from any
licentiousness of the earlier Pauline heretics, it was other source.
Nevertheless, Trenreus attributes to them possession
because the doctrine of Valentine was an intellectual,
of a " Cosjiel of Trutli " (Evangelium Veritatis). " This
theosophical system, quite above the comprehension of
Scripture," says he, " does not in any point agree with
vulgar minds, and therefore only embraced by exalted
mystics aiul cold philosophers. our four Canonical Gospels."' To this also, perhaps,
The Yalentinians were not accused of mutilating the Tertullian refers, when he s<ays that the Yalentinians
Scriptures, but of evaporating their significance. " ^Mar- jiossessed "their own Gospel in addition to ours."*
Epiphanius, however, makes no mention of this Gos-
cion," says Tertullian, " knife in band, has cut the Scrip-
]jel he knew the writings of the Yalentinians well, and
tures to pieces, to give support to his system Yakntine
;
;

has inserted extracts in liis work on heresies.

has the appearance of sparing them, and of trying rather
to accommodate his errors to them, than of accommo- 1 Tertul De Prjcscrip. 38. ' Iren. Adv. Haeres. i. 20.

dating them to his errors. Nevertheless, he has curtailed, 9 Ibid. iii. 11.

interpohited more than did Marcion, by taking from the * "Suura prseter hjec nostra." —Tertull. de Priescrip. 49.

words their force and natural value, to give them forced

significations."^
The Pauline fdiation of the sect can hardly be mis-
' Tertul. De Prresciip. -49.
 GOSPEL OF EVE. 287

religious and natural passions simultaneously. The end

was a convulsive fit of incoherent utterings, and the
curtain fell on the rapturous embraces of the prophet
and his spiritual bride.
in. Mark possessed a Gospel, and " an infinite number of
apocryphal Scriptures," says Irenseus. The Gospel con-
THE GOSPEL OF EVE. tained a falsified life of Clirist. One of the stories from
it he quotes. When Jesus was a boy, he was learning
The immoral tendency of Valentinianism l)roke out letters. The master said, "
Say Alpha." Jesus repeated
in coarse, flagrant licentiousness as soon aa the doc- after him, " Alpha." Tlien the master said, " Say Beta."
trines of the secthad soaked down out of the stratum But Jesus answered, " Nay, 1 will not say Beta till you
of educated men to the ranks of the undisciplined and have explained to me the meaning of Alpha." ^ The
vulgar. Alarcosians made much
of tlie hidden mysteries of the
Valentinianism assumed two forms, broke into two letters of the alphabet,showing that ]\Iark had brought
sects, —the Marcosians and the Ophites. with him from Palestine something akin to the Cab-
Mark, who lived in the latter half of the second balism of the Jewish rabbis.
century, came probably from ralestiue, as we may This story is found in the apocryphal Gospel of St.
gather from his frequent use of forms from the Aramrean Thomas. It runs somewhat differently in the different
liturgy. But he did not bring witli him any of the versions of that Gospel, and is repeated twice in each
Judaizing spirit, none of the grave reverence for the with slight variations.
moral law, and decency of the Nazarene, Ebionite and In the Syriac
kindred sects sprung from the ruined Church of the
" ZacclioEUs the teacher said to Joseph, I will teach the boy
Hebrews.
He was followed by trains of women whom lie cor- Jesus whatever is proper for him to leam. And he made

His custom him go to school. And he, going in, was silent. But Zac-
rupted, and converted into prophetesses.
chseas the scribe hegim to tell him (the letters) from Alaph,
was, in an assembly to extend a chalice to a woman
and wa.s repeating to him many times the whole alphabet.
saying to her, " The grace of God, whicli excels all, and
And he says to him that he should answer and say after him;
which the mind cannot conceive or explain, fill all your but he was silent. Then the scribe became angry, and struck
inner man, and increase his knowledge in you, dropping him with liis hand upon his head. And Jesus said, A
the grain of mustard-seed into good ground."^ A scene smith's anvil, being beaten, can (not) leam, and it has no
like a Methodist revival followed. The woman was feeling ; but I am able to say those things, recited by you,
urged to speak in prophecy ; she hesitated, declared her with knowledge and understanding (unbeaten)."^
inability; warm, passionate appeals followed closely one
on another, couched in equivocal language, exciting the > Iren. i. 26.

' 'Wiight : Syriac Apocrypha, Lond. 1865, pp. 8 — 10.

' Epipban. Hieres. xxxir. 1 ; Iren. Hsr. i. 9.
288 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF EVE. 289

In the Greek him, Answer. But Jesus was silent, and answered nothing.
Wherefore, the preceptor Levi, being angry, took a rod of a
" Zacclia?us saifl to Joseph .Givo thy son to me, that
. .
Btorax-tree, and smote him on the head. And Jesus said to
he may learn letters, and ^ith his letters I will teach him
some knowleilge, and
the teacher Levi, Why dost thou smite me ? Know in truth
chiefly this, to salute all the eMers, and
that he who smitten teacheth him that smiteth, rather than
is
to venerate them as f^randfathors and fathers, and to love
is taught byjhim. . And Jesus added, and said to Levi,
. .
those of his own a[;e. And he told liim all the letters from
Every from Aleph to Tau is known by its order;
letter
Alpha to Omega. Then, looking at the teacher Zacchajus,
thou, therefore, say first what is Tau, and I will tell thee
he said to him. Thou that knowest not Alpha naturally, how what Aleph is. And he added, They who know not Aleph,
canst thou teach Eela to others Thou hypocrite if thou
? !

how can they say Tau, ye hypocrites 1

First say what Aleph
knowest, teach Alpha first, and then we shall believe thee
*
is, and I you when you say Beth. And
shall then believe
concerning Beta."
Jesus began to ask the names of the separate letters, and said,
Or, according to another Greek version, after Jesus Let the teacher of the Law say what the first letter is, or
has been delivered over by Joseph to Zacchreus, the why it hath many triangles, scalene, acute-angled, equilinear,
curvi-linear," &c.'
preceptor
" —wrote the alphabet in Ilobrew, and said to liim. Alpha. At the root of Mark's teaching there seems to have
And the child said. Alpha. And the teacher said again. been a sort of Pantheism. He taught that all had
Alpha. And the child sai<l the .';ame. Then again a third sprung from a great World-mother, partook of her soul
time the teacher said, Al[iha. Then Josu-s, looking at the and nature but over against this female principle stood
;

instructor, said. Thou knowest not Alpha how Avilt thou ; the Deity, the male element.
teach another the letter Beta? And the child, beginning at Man represents the Deity, "woman the world element
Alpha, said of himself the twenty-two letters. Then he said and only through the union of the divine and the
it is
again. Hearken, teacher, to the arrangement of the first letter, material that the material can be quickened into spiritual
and know how many accessories and lines it hath, and marks life. In accordance with this theory, they had a cere-
wliicli are common, transverse and connected. And when monial of what he called spiritual, but was eminently
Zacchacus heard such accounts of one letter, he was amazed, carnal, marriage, which is best left undescribed.
and could not answer him.'"^ Not widely removed from the Marcosians was the
Another version of the same story is found in the Valentinian sect of the Ophites. Valentinianism mingled
Gospel of tlie pseudo-Matthew with the floating superstition, the fragments of the wreck
of Sabianism, which was to be found among the lower
" Joseph and Jlary coaxing Jesus, leil him to the school,
classes.
that ho might be taught his letters by tlie old man, Levi,
The Ophites represented the Demiurge in the same
Wlien he entered he was silent ; and the master, Levi, told
and beguuiing at the Aleph, said to
way as did the Valentinians. They called the God of
one letter to Jesus, first,
this world and of the Jews by the name of Jaldaboth.
* TischendorC : Codex Ajiocr. N. T. ; Ernng. Tliom. i. c. 6, 14.
> Pseud. Matt. c. 31.
* Ihid. ii. c 7 ; Latin Evang. Tbom. iii. c. 6, 12.
O
290 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS.
GOSPEL OF EVE.
291
He was a limited being, imposing restraint on all his
creatures he exercised his power by imposing law. As
;

long as his creatures obeyed law, they were subject to

The meaning of this passage is
his dominion. But above Jaldaboth in the sublime not doubtfuL It ex-
presses the doctrine of absolute
region without limit reigns the Supreme God. When identity between Christ
and the believer, tlie radiation
Adam broke the Law of the World-God, he emancipated of divine virtue throuah
all souls d,cstroying
himself from his bondage, he passed out of his realm, he their individuality, tliat
all may be
absorbed into Christ. Individualities
placed himself in relation to the Supreme God. emerge out of God
and through Christ are drawn
The world is made by Jaldaboth, but in the world is back into God
The influence of St. Pauls ideas
infused a spark of soul, emanated from the highest God- is again noticeable.
^Ae are not told that the perfect
This divine soul strives after emancipation from the man who speaks with
a voice of thunder, and who
bonds imposed by connection with matter, created by is placed in contrast
with
tlie mutilated man, is Christ, and that
the God of this world. Tliis world-soul under the form tlie latter is the
iJcmiurge, but we can scarcely
of a serpent urged Eve to emancipate herself from doubt it. It is greatly
to be regretted that we
thraldom, and pass with Adam, by an act of trans- have so little of tJiis curious
book preserved.^ The second
gression, into the glorious liberty of the sons of the passage, with its signifi-
cation, had better repose
Supreme God. in a foot-note, and in
Greek
It aUow.s us to understand
Tlie doctrine of the Ophites with respect to Christ the expression of St. Ephiaem,'
ihey shamelessly boast of their
was that of Valentine. Christ came to break the last Gospel of Eve."3
chains of Law by which man was bound, and to trans-
Epiph. Hares, xiti. 3.
late him into the realm of grace where sin docs not
» The secoml passage and its meaning are : EUov Siv^pov fpou lu.c\.a
exist.
The Ophites possessed a Gospel, called the " Gospel
of Eve." It contained, no doubt, an account of the Fall
^'"''"^'"'™'' '^^^'
from tlieir peculiar point of view. St. Epiplianius has xxTi. 6
" ''" ''^""''f X«p.v. -Epiph. Hreres.

preserved two passages from it. They are so extra- ' Epiphan. Hares xzW. 2. He says, moreover: oi. aloxvvo^.ro.
ordinary, and throw such a light on the doctrines of this d«ro.c roi, p^^am ra rf/j nopvua, «.,ya„9a. naXtv lp<0TCKi rijg
>^ KvLior
f ""t
noiTiToviiaTa.
Gospel, that I quote them. The first is

" I was planted on a lofty mountaiu, and lo I beheld a !

man of great stature, and another who was mutilated. And

then I heard a voice like unto thunder. And when I drew
near, he spake with me after this wise : Iam thou, and thou
art L And wheresoever thou art, there am I, and I am dis-
persed through all. And wheresoever thou wiliest, there

02
 IV.

THE GOSPEL OF PERFECTION. THE GOSPEL OF ST. PHILIP.

The Gospel of Perfection was another work regarded This Gospel belonged to the same category as those
as sacred by the Ophites. Epiphanius says : " Some
St. of Perfection and of Eve, and belonged, if not to the

of them (i.e. of the Gnostics) there are who vaunt the Ophites, to an analogous sect, perhaps that of the Pro-
possession of a certain fictitious, far-fetched poem which dicians. St. Philip passed, in the early ages of Chris-
they call the Gospel of Perfection, whereas it is not a tianity, as having been, like St. Paul, an apostle of
Gospel, but the perfection of misery. For the
bitterness
the Gentiles,^ and perhaps as having agreed with his
of death consummated in that production of the devU.
is views on the Law and evangelical liberty. But tradition
Others without shame boast their Gospel of Eve." had confounded together PhUip the apostle and Philip
poem,
St Epiphanius calls this Gospel of Perfection a the deacon of Ca3sarea, who, after having been a member
But M. Nicolas justly observes that the word of the Hellenist Church at Jerusalem, and having been
roi-qfia.

is used here, not to describe

the work as a poetical
driven thence after the martyrdom of Stephen, was the
^oL^fia
composition, but as a fiction. In a
passage of Irenseus,^ first to carry the Gospel beyond the famUy of Israel,
preserved, the Gospel
of which only the Latin has been and to convert the heathen to Christ.^ His zeal and
" and it is probable that the success caused him to be called an Evangelist.' In the
of Judas is caUed confictio,"
" was 7roi/;/xa.2
Greek word rendered by confictio" second century it was supposed that an Evangelist
Perfection was the And as no
Baur thinks that the Gospel of meant one who had written a Gospel.
this can hardly be.
same as the Gospel of Eve.^ But Gospel bearing his name existed, one was composed for
The words of St. Epiphanius plainly distmguish them: liim and attributed to him or to the apostle they were —
« Some vaunt the Gospel
of Perfection .... others not distinguished.
boast .... the Gospel of
Eve;" and elsewhere he St. Epiphanius has preserved one passage from it

plural*
speaks of their books in the "
The Lord has revealed to me the words to be spoken by
the aoul when it ascends into heaven, and how it has to
> Iren. Haeres. i. 35.
Apociyphes, p. 168.
answer each of the celestial powers. The soul must say, I
» Nicolas : Etudes sur les Evangiles
have known myself, and I have gathered myself from all
» Baur: Die Christliche Qnoaia, p. 193.

— Haeres. ilTi. 6. parts. I have not home children to Archon (the prince of
* Iv airoKpiipois d vayi viiffKO vref.
> Euaeb. Hist. Eccl. ii. 1. « Acta Tiii. 5, 13, 27—39, iii. 8.

' Acts xii. 8.

294 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF ST. PHILIP. 295

this world) ; but I have phickcd up his roots, and I have of the Name pasised tlirough. Next he came to the
gntbered his dispersed members. I have learned who thou sphere over which presided the angel Saadalfon, and
art ; for I am, saitli the soul, of the number of tlie celestial penetrated by means of the same Name. Next he
ones. But if it is proved tliat the soul has borne a son, she traversed the river of flame, called Eiggon, and stood
must return downwards, till she has recovered her children,
before the throne.'
and has absorbed them into herself."'
St. Paul held the popular Eabbinic notion of the
It is not altogether easy to catch the meaning of this spheres surrounding the throne of God, for he speaks of
singular passage, but it apparently has this signification. having been cauglit up into the third heaven.^ In the
The soul trammelled with the cliains of matter, created apocryphal Ascension of Isaiah there are seven heavens
by the Archon, the Creator of the world, has to eman- that the prophet traverses.
cipate itself from all material concerns. Each tliought, The Eabbinic on the spheres were taken probably
ideas
interest, passion, excited by anything in the world, is a from the Chaldees, and from the same source, perhaps,
child borne by the soul to Archon, to which the soul sprang the conception of the soul making her ascension
has contributed animation, the world, form. The great through the angel-guarded spheres, which we find in the
work of life is the disengagement of the soul from all fragment of the Gospel of St. PhUip.
concern in the affairs of the world, in the requirements Unfortunately, we have not sufficient of the early
of the body. "When the soul has reached the most literature of tlie Chaldees and Assyrians to be able to
exalted perfection, it is cold, passionless, indifferent; say for certain that it was so. But a very curious
then comes before the Supreme God, passing through
it sacred poem has been preserved on the terra-cotta
the spheres guarded by attendant reons or angels, and tablets of the library of Assurbani-Pal, which exhibits a
to each it protests its disengagement. But should any simUar belief as prevalent anciently in AssjTia.
thought or care for mundane matters be found lurking This poem represents the descent of Istar into the
in the recesses of tlie soul, it has to descend again, and Immutable Land, the nether world, divided into seven
remain in exile till it has re-absorbed aU the life it gave, circles. The heavenly world of the Chaldees was also
the interest it felt, in such concerns, and then again divided into seven circles, each ruled by a planet. The
make its essay to reach God. poem therefore exliibits a descent instead of an ascent
The conception of Virtues guarding the concentric But there is little reason to doubt that the passage in
spheres surrounding the Most High is found among the each case would have been analogous. We have no
Jews. "When Moses went into the presence of God ancient Assyrian account of an ascent we must there- ;

to receive the tables of stone, he met first the angel fore content ourselves with what we have.

Kemuel, chief of the angels of destruction, who would Istar descends into the lower region, and as she

have pronounced the incommuni-

slain him, but jMoses traverses each circle is despoiled of one of her coverings
cable Name, and passed through. Then he came to the ' Jalkat Rabeni, foL 107. See my " Legends of Old Testament
sphere governed by the angel Hadarniel, and by virtue Cliaractem," II. pp. 108, 109.

' Epiphan. Hsres. xxvi, 13. ' 2 Cor. lii. 2.

296 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF ST. PHILIP. 297

she stands naked before " ' Enter into the empire of the Lady of the Earth, to this
worn in the region above, till

Land of Death. stage of the circles.'

Belith, the Queen of the
vii. " At the seventh gate I made her enter ; I despoiled

made her enter, I despoiled her; her of her skirt."

i. "At the first gate, as I
" ' Hold, keeper of the gate Thou hast despoiled me of
1 took the crown from off her head. I

" Hold, gatekeeper

' ! Thou hast taken the crown from off my skirt.'
" '
Enter into the empire of the Lady of the Earth, to this
my head.'
" ' Enter into the empire of the Lady of the Earth, to this degree of circles.'"*

stage of the circles.' We have something very simUar in the judgment

" At the second gate I made her enter; I despoiled her,
ii. of souls in the Egyptian Eitual of the Dead. From
and took from off her the earrings from her ears.
ChaldaBa or from Egypt the Gnostics who used the
" '
Hold, keeper of the gate ! Thou hast despoiled me of
Gospel of St. Philip drew their doctrine of the soul
tlie earrings from my ears.'
traversing several circles, and arrested by an angel at
" ' Enter into the empire of the Lady of the Earth, to this
the gate of each.
stage of the circles.'
The soul, a divine element, is in the earth combined
iii.
" At the third gate I made her enter ; 1 despoiled her
with the body, a work of the Archon. But her aspira-
of the precious jewels on her neck.
tions are for that which is above she strives to " extir-
" ' Hold, keeper of the gate Thou hast despoiled me of 1
;

pate his roots." All her " scattered members," her

the jewels of my neck.'
" ' Enter into the empire of the Lady of the Earth, to this thoughts, wishes, impulses, are gathered into one up-
tapering flame. Then only does she " know (God) for
stage of the circles.'
iv.
" At the fourth gate I made her enter ; I despoiled her what He is," for she has learned the nature of God by
upon her breast. introspection.
of the brooch of jewels
" Hold, keeper of the gate
' ! Thou hast despoiled me of Such, if I mistake not, is the meaning of the passage
the brooch of jewels upon my breast.* quoted by St. Epiphanius. The sect which used such
" ' Enter into the empire of the Lady of the Earth, to this a Gospel must have been mystical and ascetic, given
stage of the circles.' to contemplation, and avoiding the indulgence of their
V. "At the fifth gate I made her enter; I despoiled her of animal appetites. It was that, probably, of Prodicus,
the belt of jewels about her waist. strung on the same Pauline thread as the heresies of
" Hold, keeper of the gate
' ! Thou hast despoiled me of
Marcion, Nicolas, Valentine, Marcus, the Ophites, Car-
the belt of jewels about my waist.' pocratians and Cainites.
" ' Enter into the empire of the Lady of the Earth, to this
Prodicus, on the strength of St. Paul's saying that all
stage of the circles.' Christians are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
vi.
" At the sixth gate I made her enter ; I despoiled her
maintained the sovereignty of every man placed under
of her armlets and bracelets.
«'
Hold, keeper of the gate
' ! Thou hast despoiled me of • The cnneiform text in Lenormant, Textes caneiformes inedits, No. 30.

my armlets and bracelets.' The tranelatioo in Lenormant Les premieres ciTllizations, I. pp. 87
: 89. —
o3
298 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS.

the Gospel. above law, is not bound by

But a king is

law. Therefore the Christian is under no bondage of

Law, moral or ceremonial. He is lord of the Sabbatli,
above all ordinances. Prodicus made the whole worship
of. God to consist in the inner contemplation of the VI.
essence of God.
External worship was not required of the Christian THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS.
that liad been imposed by the Demiurge on the Jews
The Pauline Protestantism of the first two centuries
and under his bondage, till the time of the fulness of
all
of the Church had not exhausted Valentini-
itself in
the Gospel had come.^ Tlie Prodicians did not con-
anisra. The fanatics wlio held free justification and
stitute an important, widely-extended sect, and were
confounded by many of the early Fathers with other emancipation from the Law were ready to run to greater
Pauline-Gnostic sects. lengths than ]\Iarcion, Valentine, or even Marcus, was
prepared to go.

IMen of ability and enthusiasm rose and preached, and

1 Clem. Alex. Stromata, i. f. 304 ; iii. f. 438 ; tu. f. 722.

galvanized the latent Paulinian Gnosticism into tem-

porary and popularity, and tlien disappeared the
life ;

great wave of natural common-sense against

which they
overwhelmed their disciples, till
battled returned and
esta-
another heresiarch arose, made another effort to
again to
blish permanently a religion without morality,
and
fail before the loudly-expressed disgust of mankind,
stolid conviction inherent in human
nature that
tlie

pure morals and pure religion are and must be

indis-

solubly united.
Everything
Carpocrates was one of these revivalists.
observances, aU
except faith, all good works, all exterior
respect for human laws, were indifferent, worse than
these exhibited, where
indifferent, to the Christian :

found, an entanglement of tlie soul in

the web woven
God world, of the Jews, of the
for it by the of this

Law. The body was of the earth, the soul of heaven.

distorted the
Here, again, Carpocrates followed and
under the Law, the
teaching of St. Paul tlie body was
;

sold was free. Whatsoever was done in the body did

300 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF JUDAS. 301

not ftflect the soul. " It is no more I that do it, but sin their doctrines were subversive of morality, and that,
that dwelleth in me." ^
when taught men with human
as religious truths to
passions, they could not fail to produce immoral results.
" All depends upon faith and love," saiil Carpocratcs ; " ex-
ternaJs are altogether mattci-s of indilference. He wlio ascribes
An extract from Isidore, preserved by Epiphanius, giving
instractions to his follower/ how to conduct themselves,
moral worth to these makes himself their slave, suhjects him-
self to thoso spirits of the world from whom all religious and
was designed to be put in practice. It is impossible
political ordinances have proceeded ; he cannot, after death, even to quote it, so revolting is its indecency. In sub-
pass out of the sphere of the metempsychosis. But he who stance it is this : No man can approach the SupremB
can abandon himself to every lust without being affected by God except when perfectly disengaged from earthly
any, who can thus bid defiance to the laws of those earthly passion. This disengagement cannot be attained with-
sjtirits, Avill after death rise to the unity of that Original One, out first satisfying passion ; therefore the exhaustion of
with whom he has, by uniting himself, freed himself, even in desire consequent on the gratification of passion is the
*
this present life, from all fetters." proper preparation for prayer.^
To the same licentious class of Antinomians belonged
Epiphanes, the son of Carpoci'ates, a youth of remark-
the sect of the Antitactes. They also held the distinction
able ability, who died young, exhausted by the excesses
between the Supreme God and the Demiurge, the God
to which his solifidianisra exposed him, wrote a work
of the Jews,^ of the Law, of the World. The body, the
on Justification by Faith, in which he said " serves the
work of the God of creation, is evil ; it law
" All nature manifests a striving after unity and fellow- of sin ;" nay, it is the very source of sin, and imprisons,
sliip ; the laws of man contradicting these laws of nature, degrades, the soul entangled in it. Thus the soid serves
and yet unable to subdue the appetites implanted in human tlie law of God, the body the law of sin, i.e. of the Demi-
—
nature by the Creator himself these fu^t introduced sin."' lu-ge. But the Demiurge has imposed on men his law,
the Ten Commandments. If the soul consents to that
With Epiphanes, St. Epiphanius couples Isidore, and
law, submits to be in bondage under it, the soul passes
quotes from bis writings directions how the Faithful
from the liberty of its ethereal sonship, under the
are to obtain disengagement from passion, so as to attain
dominion of a God at enmity with the Supreme Being.
union with God. Dean Jlilman, in his " History of
Therefore the true Christian must show his adherence
Christianity," charitably hopes that tlie licentiousness
to the Omnipotent by breaking the laws of the Deca-
attributed to these sects was deduced by the Fathers
from their MTitings, and was not actually practised by
logue, — the more the better.'

them. But the extracts from the books of Isidore, ' Epiphan. xzxii. 4. * Clem. Strom, iii. fol. 626.
Epiphanes and Carpocrates, are sufficient to show that
' It is instnictive to mark how the enunciation of the same principles
led to the same results after the lapse of twelve centuries. The proclama-
' Rom. vii. 17. * Iren. Hteres. i. 25.
tion of free grace, emancipation from the Law, justification by faith only,
' Compare Rom. iii. 20. Epiphanes died at the age of iCTenteeD. in the sixteenth century quickened into being heresies which had lain dead
Epiphau. Hsres. xzxii. 3. through long ages. Bishop Barlow, the Anglican Reformer, and one of the
302 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF JUDAS. 303

Was religious fanaticism capable of descending lower ? Some, to rescue jeoparded morality, maintained that
Apparently The Cainites exhibit Pauline anti-
it was so. the Law contained a mixture of things good and bad
nomianism in its last, most extravagant, most grotesque
law was bad, the moral law was
that the ceremonial
expression. Their doctrine was the extreme develop- good. Some, more happily, asserted that the whole of
ment of an idea in itself originally containing an element the Law was good, but that part of it was temporary,
of truth.
provisional, intended only to be temporary and provi-
Paul had proclaimed the emancipation of the Chris-
sional, a figure of that which was to be and the rest of
;
tian from the Law. Perhaps he did not at first suffi- the Law was permanent, of perpetual obligation.
ciently distinguish between the moral and the ceremo-
The ordinances of the Mosaic sanctuary were typical.
nial law he did not, at all events, lay down a broad,
;
When the fulfilment of the types came, the shadows
luminous principle, by which his disciples might dis- were done away. This was the teaching of the author
tinguish between moral obligation to the Decalogue and
of the Epistle to the Hebrews, called forth by the dis-
bondage to the ceremonial Law. If both laws were orders wliicli had followed indiscriminating denuncia-
imposed by the same God, to upset one was to upset the tion of the Law by the Pauline party.
other. And Paul himself broke a hole in the dyke when
But a large body of men could not, or would not,
he opposed the observance of the Sabbath, and instituted admit this distinction. St. PatU had proclaimed the
instead thfc Lord's-day. emancipation of the Christian from the Law. They,
Through that gap rushed the waves, and swept the having been Gentiles, had never been under the cere-
whole Decalogue away. monial Law of Moses. How then could they be set at
liberty from it ? The only freedom they could under-
compilers of our Prayer-book, thus describes the results of the enunciation stand was freedom from the natural law written on the
of these doctrines in Qerioan; and Switzerland, results of which he was
"There be some which bold opinion that all devils and
flesliy tables of their hearts by the same finger that had
an eje-witness :

inscribed the Decalogue on the stones in Sinai. The '

damned souls shall be sared at the day of doom. Some of them persuade
themselves that the serpent which deceived Ere mas Christ. Some of them (Jod of the Jews was, indeed, the God of the world.
grant to every man and woman two souls. Some affirm lechery to be no The Old Testament was the revelation of his will.
sin, and that one may us6 another man's wife without oDence. Some take
Christ had emancipated man from the Law. The Law
upon them to be soothsayers and prophets of wonderful things to come, and
have prophesied the day of judgment to be at hand, some within three was at enmity to Christ therefore tlie Christian was at
;

months, some within one month, some within six days. Some of them, enmity to the Law. The Law was the voice of the God
both men and women, at their congregations for a mystery show themselves
of the Jews; therefore the Christian was at enmity
naked, affirming that they be in the state of innocence. Also, some bold
that no man ought to be punished or suffer execution for any crime or tres- to the God of the Jews. Jesus was the revelation of
pass, be it ever so horrible" (A Dyalogue describing the orygynall ground the All-good God, the Old Testament the revelation of
of these Lutheran faccyons, 1531). We are in presence once more of Mar- the evil God.
cosians. Ophites, Carpocratians. H.idlhese sects lingered on through twelve
centuries ? Possibly only ; but it is clear that the disi^emination of the
Looking at the Old Testament from this point of view,
same doctrines caused the production of these obscene sects by inevitable the extreme wing of the Pauline host, the Cainites,
logical neccsi^ity, whether an historical Bliation be established or not. naturally came to regard the Patriarchs as being under
304 LOST PAULINE GOSPELS. GOSPEL OF JUDAS. 305

the protection, the Prophets as being under the in-

ites. They composed a Gospel tmder his name, to
spiration, of the God of the Jews, and therefore to
EwyyeAtof rov 'lovSa.^ Irenaeus also mentions it;^ it
hold them in abhorrence, as enemies of Christ and the
must therefore date from the second century. Theodoret
Supreme Deity. Those, on the other hand, "who were mentions it likewise. But none of the ancient Fathers
spoken of in the Old Testament as resisting God, quote it. Not a single fragment of this curious work
punished by God, were true prophets, martyrs of the has been preserved.
Supreme Deity, forerunners of the Gospel. Cain became
the type of virtue Abel, on the contrary, of error and
;
"It is certainly to be regretted," says M Nicolas,
" that this monument of human folly has completely
perversity. The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah disappeared. It should have been carefuUy preserved
were pioneers of Gospel freedom Corah, Dathan and ;
as a monument, full of instruction, of the errors into
Abiram, martyrs protesting against Mosaism. which man is capable of faUing, when he abandons him-
In this singular rehabilitation, Judas Iscariot was re- self blindly to theological dogmatism."'
lieved from the anathema weighing upon him. This In addition to the Gospel of Judas, the Cainites pos-
man, who had sold his Master, was no longer regarded sessed an apocryphal book relating to that apostle whom
as a traitor, but as one who, inspired by the Spirit of they venerated scarcely second to Judas, viz. St. Paul
Wisdom, had been an instrument iu the work of redemp- It was entitled the "Ascension of Paul," 'AvaPariKov
tion. The other apostles, narrowed by their prejudices, TlavXov* and related to his translation into the third
had opposed the idea of the death of Christ, saying, " Be heaven, and the revelation of unutterable things he there
it far from thee. Lord; this shall not be uuto thee."^ received.''
But Judas, having a clearer vision of the truth, and the An " Apocalypse of Paul " has been preserved, but it
necessity for the redemption of the world by the death almost certainly is a different book from the Anabaticoa
of Christ, took the heroic resolution to make that precious It contains nothing favouring the heretical views of
sacrifice inevitable. Kising above his duties as disciple, the Cainites, and was read in some of the churches of
in his devotion to the cause of humanity, he judged it Palestine. This Apocalypse in Greek has been pub-
necessary to prevent the hesitations of Christ, who at lished by Dr. Tischendorf in his Apocalypses Apocryphse
the last moment seemed to waver ; to render inevitable (Lips. 1866), and the translation of a later Syriac version
the prosecution of his great work. Judas therefore went in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol.
to tie chiefs of the synagogue, and covenanted with VIIL 1864"
them to deliver up his Master to their wiU, knowing
that by his death the salvation of the world could alone
' Epiphan. Hxres. xxxviiL 1. ' Iren. Adv. Hsres. i. 31.

» Etudes, p. 176.
be accomplished.*
* Epiphan! Hares, xxxviii. 2. '2 Cor. xii. 4.
Judas therefore became the chief apostle to the Cain-
' Reprinted in the Jonmal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record,
1 fttatt. XTi. 21, 22 ; Mark Tii. 31. p. 372.
* Ideas reprodace themselTes singQlarlf. There is an esaay by De
Qaincy advocatiog the same Tiew of the character and purpose of Judas.
 Hfckman
B I N D E K V, I N C.
Bound-lb-Plcase*

NOV 00
NrMANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
196 LOST PETRINE GOSPELS. THE CLEMENTINE GOSPEL. 197

and miseiy. The imperfections of the world are tokens ism, and speak Greek. It is at Ccesarea, Tripolis, Lao-
of imperfection in the Creator. He takes the Old Testa- dicaea, churches are established which are
that the
ment. He shows from texts that the God of the Jews spoken of in these books,—churches filled, not with
is represented aa angry, jealous, repentant ; that those Jews, but with Gentile converts, and therefore requiring
whom He favours are incestuous, adulterers, murderers. a Gospel in Greek.
This doctrine St. Peter combats by showing that pre- The Clementine Gospel was therefore probably a
sister compilation to that of the Hebrews and
of St.
sent evils are educative, curative, disguised blessings;
and by calling all those passages in Scripture which Matthew. The ]\Iemorabilia of the Apostles had circu-

attribute to God human passions, corruptions of the lated in Hebrew in the communities of pure Jews, in

sacred text in one of its many re-editions. " God who Greek in those of Gentile proselytes. These Memo-
created the world has not m reality such a character as rabilia were one book by the Hebrew
collected, into

the Scriptures assign Him," says St. Peter ;

" for such a Church, by the Nazarene proselytes, and by the com-
character is contrary to the nature of God, and therefore pUer of the Canonical Gospel of St. Matthew. This will
manifestly is falsely attributed to Him."^ explain their similarity and their differences.
From this brief sketch of the doctrines of the Ebionite From what has been said of the Clementines, it will
Church from which the Clementines emanated, it will be seen that their value is hardly to be over-estimated
as a source of information on the religious position
be seen that its Gospel must have resembled that of the
Hebrews, or have been founded on it The " Eecol- of the Petrine Church. Hilgeufeld says: "There is
scarcely any single writing which is of such
importance
lections of the Twelve" probably existed in several
for the history of the earliest stage of
Christianity, and
forms, some more complete than others, some purposely
corrupted. The Gospel of the Hebrews was in use in 1 which has yielded such brilliant disclosures at the hands
of the most careful critics, with regard to
the earliest
the orthodox Nazarene Church. Jhe Gospel iised by
ascribed
the author of the Clementines was in use in the same history of the Cliristian Church, as the writings
to the Roman Clement, the Recognitions and the Honii-
community. It is therefore natural to conclude their
substantial identity. lies."i

No conclusionhas been reached in regard to the author

But though substantially the same, and both closely
of the Clementines. It is uncertain whether the Ho-
related to the Canonical Gospel of St. Matthew, they
were not completely identical for the Clementine;
milies and the Recognitions are from the same hand.
Gospel diverged from the received text of St. Matthew Unfortunately, the Greek of the Recognitions is lost.

more widely than we are justified in concluding did that We have only a Latin translation by Rufinus of Aqui-
leia (d. 410), with liis text, as he
who took liberties
of the Gospel of the Hebrews.
informs Bishop Gaudentius, to whom he addressed
his
That it was in Greek and not in Hebrew is also pro-
bable. The converts to Christianity mentioned in the 1 Hilgenteld Die Clementinischen Recognitionen und Homilien ; Jena,
:

Compare also Dhlhorn Die Homilien und Recognitionen

Gtit-
Recognitions and Homilies are all made from Heathen- 1848. : ;

1854 and Schliemann Die

: Clementinen Hamburg,
;
1844.
tingen, ;
* Homil. xTiii. 22.