The Apocryphal Gospels

Front matter

THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

THE

AND OTHER DOCUMENTS

Preface

vi

as I could, consistently with the subject and in¬ tention of the book.

For the first time the English reader will have : anything that can honestly pretend to be a com¬ plete collection of the False Gospels, and other kin¬ dred documents, faithfully but not slavishly trans¬ lated into the vernacular.

The remainder of the Christian Apocrypha will follow if circumstances permit.

I will only add that before I undertook this work I never realised, so completely as I do now, the impassable character of the gulf which sepa¬ rates the genuine Gospels from these. Trusting that others will obtain at least as much good from them, I send them forth into the world.

B. TL C.

THE THIBD EDITION.

This edition is issued at a lower price than its precursors, and has been revised throughout by the original texts.

OOffTEWTS

Fagcr

Introduction . ix

Tlie Gospel of James (commonly called the Protevangelium). 1

The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, or of the Infancy of Mary and of

The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary ... 84

The Gospel of Thomas (I.). 12&

99 99 152'

The Letter of Abgar to Jesus. 219‘

The Letter of Jesus to Abgar. 220>

The Letter of Lentulus . 221

Prayer of Jesus, Son of Mary...*. 222

The Story of Veronica.„... 223

The Gospel of Nicodemus, or Acts of Pilate (I.). 227

,» •, „ „ Second Part, or,

Descent of Christ to the Underworld..... 299

The Latin Gospel of Nicodomus, Part I., or, Acts of Pilate. 312

Mt

Yin

Contents

Page

The Latin Gospel of Nicodemus, Part II., or, Descent of Clirist to

th.e Underworld ..... 347

Appendix

The Syriac Gospel of the Boyhood of our Lord Jesin . 448

INTBODUCTION-

I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION'.—CHARACTER AND CLAIMS OE THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

IVTatstt books are included under the name of Christian Apocrypha, or New Testament Apocrypha, as some call them. Several of these books are still extant in one language or another, but of the larger part we only possess fragments, or the mere titles. I would thus describe in a few words the character of the books in question: They are all spurious.; they all relate-te-Clnist and those who were associated with him in his earthly career, or to the apostles and their associates; they all seek to supplement or develope the writings of the New Testament; and all that we have are of more recent date than any of the canonical books. The series commenced in the second century at latest, and continued for many centuries. The materials are drawn partly from the New Testament,

b

X

CmtODTJCTION.

partly from traditions, and. partly from tlie imagina¬ tion of their authors. They are of no historical or doctrinal authority, and were never officially recog¬ nised in the Church. On many accounts they de¬ serve nothing but reproach, and that has been li¬ berally heaped upon them in all ages. It has been very truly observed of the false Gospels in particular, by Bishop Ellicott, in the “ Cambridge Essays ” for 1856, that,

“Their real demerits, their mendacities, their ab¬ surdities, their coarseness, the barbarities of their style, and the inconsequence of their narratives, have never been excused or condoned. It would be hard to find any competent writer, in any age of the Church, who has been beguiled into saying anything civil or commendatory.” (p. 153.)

And again:—

“ The torrent of abuse, condemnation, and invec¬ tive, that issued from the fountains of early ortho¬ doxy, and has never lacked an affluent in any gene¬ ration since the days of Irenseus, has raged against these unhappy mythologies with an unabated vehe¬ mence, which, as far as the honour of the orthodox faith is concerned, must be pronounced both edifying and exemplary. The whole vocabulary of theological

INTRODUCTION. XI

abhorrence, a vocabulary by no means limited in its extent, or culpably weak in its expressions, bas been expended upon these unfortunate compositions, indi¬ vidually and collectively.” (p. 154.)

Once more:—

“From all alike—from orthodox fathers, from early historians, from popes, from councils, from Romanist divines and Protestant commentators— the same amount of contempt and reprobation has been expended on the Apocryphal Gospels, and yet they live and thrive, and are, perhaps, now as much and as curiously read as ever,” (p. 155.)

As I have in the present volume mainly to do with the spurious Gospels, and documents closely allied with them, I shall chiefly limit my remarks to them. It has been said then, in opposition to what Lardner, Jones, Ellicott, and others have af¬ firmed, that the Churches once received these spu¬ rious Gospels. Writers who have been hostile to the four Canonical Gospels have been very anxious to prove that either fewer or more than four were originally accepted, and they have not been over anxious which of these they proved. For popular purposes much use has been made of this argument, on the faith of an idle story quoted by Pappus