Lost and Hostile Gospels

1

Joseph. Antiq. xii. 5; 1 Maccab. i. 11-15, 43, 52; 2 Maccab. iv. 9-16.

2

πονήροι, ἀσεβεῖς. – Antiq. xiii. 4, xii. 10.

3

Baba-Kama, fol. 82; Menachoth, fol. 64; Sota, fol. 49; San-Baba, fol. 90.

4

Menachoth, fol. 99.

5

Baba-Kama, fol. 63.

6

Mass. Sopherim, c. i. in Othonis Lexicon Rabbin. p. 329.

7

Philo is not mentioned by name once in the Talmud, nor has a single sentiment or interpretation of an Alexandrine Jew been admitted into the Jerusalem or Babylonish Talmud.

8

Aristobulus wrote a book to prove that the Greek sages drew their philosophy from Moses, and addressed his book to Ptolemy Philometor.

9

Gal. iv. 24, 25.

10

Col. i. 16.

11

1 Cor. x. 21.

12

Dante, Parad. xiv.

13

See the question carefully discussed in M. F. Delaunay's Moines et Sibylles; Paris, 1874, pp. 28 sq.

14

See, on this curious topic, C. Aubertin: Sénèque et St. Paul; Paris, 1872.

15

Euseb. Hist. Eccl. ii. 17. The Bishop of Caesarea is quoting from Philo's account of the Therapeutae, and argues that these Alexandrine Jews must have been Christians, because their manner of life, religious customs and doctrines, were identical with those of Christians. “Their meetings, the distinction of the sexes at these meetings, the religious exercises performed at them, are still in vogue among us at the present day, and, 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. All these the above-named author (Philo) has accurately described in his writings, and are the same customs that are observed by us alone, at the present day, particularly the vigils of the great Feast, and the exercises in them, and the hymns that are commonly recited among us. He states that, whilst one sings gracefully with a certain measure, the others, listening in silence, join in at the final clauses of the hymns; also that, on the above-named days, they lie on straw spread on the ground, and, to use his own words, abstain altogether from wine and from flesh. Water is their only drink, and the relish of their bread salt and hyssop. Besides this, he describes the grades of dignity among those who administer the ecclesiastical functions committed to them, those of deacons, and the presidencies of the episcopate as the highest. Therefore,” Eusebius concludes, “it is obvious to all that Philo, when he wrote these statements, had in view the first heralds of the gospel, and the original practices handed down from the apostles.”

16

It is deserving of remark that the turning to the East for prayer, common to the Essenes and primitive Christians, was forbidden by the Mosaic Law and denounced by prophets. When the Essenes diverged from the Law, the Christians followed their lead.

17

Γίνεται δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον Ιησοῦς, σοφὸς ἀνὴρ, εἴγε ἄνδρα αὐτὸν λέγειν χρή; ἦν γὰρ παραδόξων ἔργων ποιητὴς, διδάσκαλος ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἡδονῇ τ᾽ ἀληθῆ δεχομένων; καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν Ἰουδαίους, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ ἐπηγάγετο. Ὁ Χριστὸς οὖτος ἦν. Καὶ αὐτὸν ἐνδείξει τῶν πρώτων ἀνδρῶν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν σταυρῷ ἐπιτετιμηκότος Πιλάτου, οὐκ ἐπαύσαντο οἵ γε πρῶτον αὐτὸν ἀγαπήσαντες; ἐφάνη γαρ αὐτοῖς τρίτην ἔχων ἡμέραν πάλιν ζῶν, τῶν θείων προφητῶν ταῦτά τε καὶ ἄλλα μυρία θαυμάσια περὶ αὐτοῦ εἰρηκότων; εἰς ἔτι νῦν τῶν χριστιανῶν ἀπὸ τοῦδε ὠνομασμένων οὐκ ἐπέλίπε τὸ φῦλον. – Lib. xviii. c. iii. 3.

18

Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 11; Demonst. Evang. lib. iii.

19

He indeed distinctly affirms that Josephus did not believe in Christ, Contr. Cels. i.

20

Juvenal, Satir. vi. 546. “Aere minuto qualiacunque voles Judaei somnia vendunt.” The Emperors, later, issued formal laws against those who charmed away diseases (Digest. lib. i. tit. 13, i. 1). Josephus tells the story of Eleazar dispossessing a demon by incantations. De Bello Jud. lib. vii. 6; Antiq. lib. viii. c. 2.

21

Hist. Eccl. i. 11.

22

Contr. Cels. i. 47; and again, ii. 13: “This (destruction), as Josephus writes, ‘happened upon account of James the Just, the brother of Jesus, called the Christ;’ but in truth on account of Christ Jesus, the Son of God.”

23

Acts xxiii.

24

Bibliothec. cod. 33.

25

Plin. Hist. Nat. v. 17; Epiphan. adv. Haeres. xix. 1.

26

Epiphan. adv. Haeres. x.

27

For information on the Essenes, the authorities are, Philo, Περὶ τοῦ πάντα σπουδαῖον εἶναι ἐλεύθερον, and Josephus, De Bello Judaico, and Antiq.

28

Compare Luke x. 4; John xii. 6, xiii. 29; Matt. xix. 21; Acts ii. 44, 45, iv. 32, 34, 37.

29

Compare Matt. vi. 28-34; Luke xii. 22-30.

30

Compare Matt. v. 34.

31

Compare Matt. vi. 25, 31; Luke xii. 22, 23.

32

Compare Matt. xv. 15-22.

33

Compare Matt. vi. 1-18.

34

From אסא, meaning the same as the Greek Therapeutae.

35

Compare Luke x. 25-37; Mark vii. 26.

36

Matt. iv. 16, v. 14, 16, vi. 22; Luke ii. 32, viii. 16, xi. 23, xvi. 8; John i. 4-9, iii. 19-21, viii. 12, ix. 5, xi. 9, 10, xii. 35-46.

37

Luke viii. 10; Mark iv. 12; Matthew xiii. 11-15.

38

Clem. Homil. xix. 20.

39

Compare Matt. xv. 3, 6.

40

The reference to salt as an illustration by Christ (Matt. v. 13; Mark ix. 49, 50; Luke xiv. 34) deserves to be noticed in connection with this.

41

Clem. Homil. xiv. 1: “Peter came several hours after, and breaking bread for the Eucharist, and putting salt upon it, gave it first to our mother, and after her, to us, her sons.”

42

Acts xx. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 2; Rev. i. 9.

43

Const. Apost. lib. viii. 33.

44

Acts ii. 46, iii. 1, v. 42.

45

Acts xv.

46

Acts i. 22, iv. 2, 33, xxiii. 6.

47

Acts xxiii. 7.

48

Acts xv. 5.

49

Acts xv. 29.

50

Clem. Homil. vii. 8.

51

Col. ii. 21.

52

Gal. iv. 10. When it is seen in the Clementines how important the observance of these days was thought, what a fundamental principle it was of Nazarenism, I think it cannot be doubted that it was against this that St. Paul wrote.

53

Col. ii. 16.

54

Clement. Homil. xix. 22.

55

Gal. v. 2-4.

56

1 Cor. v. 1.

57

Euseb. Hist. Eccl. iii. 29.

58

Ibid.

59

“Lies der Papisten Bücher, höre ihre Predigen, so wirst du finden, dass diess ihr einziger Grund ist, darauf sie stehen wider uns pochen und trotzen, da sie vorgeben, es sei nichts Gutes aus unserer Lehre gekommen. Denn alsbald, da unser Evangelium anging und sie hören liess, folgte der gräuliche Aufruhr, es erhuben sich in der Kirche Spaltung und Sekten, es ward Ehrbarkeit, Disziplin und Zucht zerrüttet, und Jedermann wolte vogelfrei seyn und thun, was ihm gelüstet nach allem seinen Muthwillen und Gefallen, als wären alle Gesetze, Rechte und Ordnung gans aufhoben, wie es denn leider allzu wahr ist. Denn der Muthwille in allen Ständen, mit allerlei Laster, Sünden und Schanden ist jetzt viel grösser denn zuvor, da die Leute, und sonderlich der Pöbel, doch etlichermassen in Furcht und in Zaum gehalten waren, welches nun wie ein zaumlos Pferd lebt und thut Alles, was es nur gelüstet ohne allen Scheu.” – Ed. Walch, v. 114. For a very full account of the disorders that broke out on the preaching of Luther, see Döllinger's Die Reformation in ihre Entwicklung. Regensb. 1848.

60

Epistolas, 1528, ii. 192.

61

1 Cor. xi. 1.

62

Acts xxi. 23, 24.

63

James ii. 20.

64

It is included by Eusebius in the Antilegomena, and, according to St. Jerome, was rejected as a spurious composition by the majority of the Christian world.

65

Rev. ii. 1, 14, 15.

66

בלעם, destruction of the people, from בלע, to swallow up, and עם, people = Νικόλαος.

67

2 Pet. ii. 21.

68

Τοῦ ἐχθροῦ ἀνθρώπου ἄνομον τίνα καὶ φλυαρώδη διδασκαλιάν – Clem. Homil. xx. ed. Dressel, p. 4. The whole passage is sufficiently curious to be quoted. St. Peter writes: “There are some from among the Gentiles who have rejected my legal preaching, attaching themselves to certain lawless and trifling preaching of the man who is my enemy. And these things some have attempted while I am still alive, to transform my words by certain various interpretations, in order to the dissolution of the Law; as though I also myself were of such a mind, but did not freely proclaim it, which God forbid! For such a thing were to act in opposition to the law of God, which was spoken by Moses, and was borne witness to by our Lord in respect of its eternal continuance; for thus he spoke: The heavens and the earth shall pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.”

69

“Apostolum Paulum recusantes, apostatam eum legis dicentes.” – Iren. Adv. Haeres. i. 26. Τὸν δὲ ἀπόστυλον ἀποστάτην καλοῦσι. – Theod. Fabul. Haeret. ii. 1.

70

Hom. xi. 85.

71

Hom. iv. 22.

72

Clem. Homil. ii. 38-40, 48, iii. 50, 51.

73

Of course I mean the designation given to the Pauline sect, not the religion of Christ.

74

Adv. Haeres. i. 24.

75

Origen, Contr. Cels. lib. viii.

76

Ibid. lib. vi.

77

Contra Cels. lib. i.

78

Ibid. lib. ii.

79

Amongst others, Clemens: Jesus von Nazareth, Stuttgart, 1850; Von der Alme: Die Urtheile heidnischer und jüdischer Schriftsteller, Leipzig, 1864.

80

Adv. Haer. lib. iii; Haer. lxviii. 7.

81

“Quantae traditiones Pharisaeorum sint, quas hodie vocant δευτερώσεις et quam aniles fabulae, evolvere nequeo: neque enim libri patitur magnitudo, et pleraque tam turpia sunt ut erubescam dicere.”

82

Haeres. xiii.

83

Beracoth, xi. a.

84

Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 107, and Sota, fol. 47.

85

Bartolocci: Bibliotheca Maxima Rabbinica, sub. nom.

86

Sepher Nizzachon, n. 337.

87

Eisenmenger: Neuentdecktes Judenthum, I. pp. 231-7. Königsberg, 1711.

88

Tract. Sabbath, fol. 67.

89

Ibid. fol. 104.

90

The passage is not easy to understand. I give three Latin translations of it, one by Cl. Schickardus, the second quoted from Scheidius (Loca Talm. i. 2). “Filius Satdae, filius Pandeirae fuit. Dixit Raf Chasda: Amasius Pandeirae, maritus Paphos filius Jehudae fuit. At quomodo mater ejus Satda? Mater ejus Mirjam, comptrix mulierum fuit.” “Filius Stadae filius Pandirae est. Dixit Rabbi Chasda: Maritus seu procus matris ejus fuit Stada, iniens Pandiram. Maritus Paphus filius Judae ipse est, mater ejus Stada, mater ejus Maria,” &c. Lightfoot, Matt. xxvii. 56, thus translates it: “Lapidârunt filium Satdae in Lydda, et suspenderunt eum in vesperâ Paschatis. Hic autem filius Satdae fuit filius Pandirae. Dixit quidem Rabb Chasda, Maritus (matris ejus) fuit Satda, maritus Pandira, maritus Papus filius Judae: sed tamen dico matrem ejus fuisse Satdam, Mariam videlicet, plicatricem capillorum mulierum: sicut dicunt in Panbeditha, Declinavit ista a marito suo.”

91

פנדירה. As a man's name it occurs in 2 Targum, Esther vii.

92

Avoda Sava, fol. 27.

93

Talmud, Tract. Beracoth, ix. fol. 61, b.

94

Gittin, fol. 90, a.

95

Chajigah, fol. 4, b.

96

Calla, fol. 18, b.

97

Son of Levi, according to the Toledoth Jeschu of Huldrich.

98

In the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, Jesus as a boy behaves without respect to his master and the elders; thence possibly this story was derived.

99

Fol. 114.

100

Justin Mart. Dialog. cum Tryph. c. 17 and 108.

101

Cont. Cels. lib. iii.

102

Lettres sur les Juifs. Œuvres, I. 69, p. 36.

103

Luther's Works, Wittemberg, 1556, T. V. pp. 509-535. The passage quoted is on p. 513.

104

Lib. viii. 33.

105

Martyrol. Rom. ad. 1 Januar.

106

Fabricius, Codex Apocryph. N.T. ii. p. 493.

107

Whereas the bitter conflict of Simon Peter and Simon Magus was a subject well known in early Christian tradition.

108

Wagenseil: Tela ignea Satanae. Hoc est arcani et horribiles Judaeorum adversus Christum Deum et Christianam religionem libri anecdoti; Altdorf, 1681.

109

Nob was a city of Benjamin, situated on a height near Jerusalem, on one of the roads which led from the north to the capital, and within sight of it, as is certain from the description of the approach of the Assyrian army in Isaiah (x. 28-32).

110

Herod put Alexander Hyrcanus to death B.C. 30. Alexandra, the mother of Hyrcanus, reigned after the death of Jannaeus, from B.C. 79 to B.C. 71.

111

Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. ii. 1.

112

Acta Sanct. Mai. T. I. pp. 445-451.

113

Ps. lxix. 22.

114

Isa. liii. 5.

115

Rome. Simon Cephas is Simon Peter, but the miraculous power attributed to him perhaps belongs to the story of Simon Magus.

116

Isa. i. 14.

117

Hosea i. 9.

118

Matt. xix. 28.

119

The Oelberg was especially characteristic of German churches, and was erected chiefly in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They remain at Nürnberg, Xanten, Worms, Marburg, Donauwörth, Landshut, Wasserburg, Ratisbon, Klosterneuburg, Wittenberg, Merseburg, Lucerne, Bruges, &c.

120

Mááse, c. 188. I have told the story more fully in the Christmas Number of “Once a Week,” 1868.

121

Joh. Jac. Huldricus: Historia Jeschuae Nazareni, a Judaeis blaspheme corrupta; Leyden, 1705.

122

The mystery of the chariot is that of the chariot of God and the cherubic beasts, Ezekiel i. The Jews wrote the name of God without vowels, Jhvh; the vowel points taken from the name Adonai (Lord) were added later.

123

The story is somewhat different in the Talmudic tract Calla, as already related.

124

From Mizraim, Egypt.

125

Evidently the author confounds John the Baptist with John the Apostle.

126

Judas Iscarioth. In St. John's Gospel he is called the son of Simon (vi. 71, xiii. 2, 26). Son of Zachar is a corruption of Iscarioth. The name Iscarioth is probably from Kerioth, his native village, in Judah.

127

Isa. lxiii. 1-3. Singularly enough, this passage is chosen for the Epistle in the Roman and Anglican Churches for Monday in Holy Week, with special reference to the Passion.

128

Gen. xxxi. 47.

129

Isa. ii. 3.

130

1 Sam. ii. 6.

131

Lev. xxiv. 16.

132

This is taken from Sanhedrim, fol. 43.

133

It is worth observing how these two false witnesses disagree in almost every particular about our blessed Lord's birth and passion.

134

This is probably taken from the story of Simon Magus in the Pseudo-Linus. Simon flies from off a high tower. In the Apocryphal Book of the Death of the Virgin, the apostles come to her death-bed riding on clouds. Ai is here Rome, not Capernaum.

135

The author probably saw representations of the Ascension and of the Last Judgment, with Christ seated with the Books of Life and Death in his hand on a great white cloud, and composed this story out of what he saw, associating the pictures with the floating popular legend of Simon Magus.

136

In the story of Simon the Sorcerer, it is at the prayer of Simon Peter that the Sorcerer falls whilst flying and breaks all his bones. Perhaps the author saw a picture of the Judgment with saints on the cloud with Jesus, and the lost falling into the flames of hell.

137

Ἑβραΐδι διαλέκτῳ.

138

Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. c. 39.

139

Ibid. lib. v. c. 8.

140

Spicileg. Patrum, Tom. I.

141

Euseb. Hist. Eccl. vi. 25.

142

Ibid. iii. 24.

143

St. Hieron. De vir. illust., s.v. Matt.

144

Ibid. s.v. Jacobus.

145

Ibid. in Matt. xii. 13.

146

Ibid. Contra. Pelag. iii. 1.

147

Ἔχουσι δὲ (οἱ Ναζαραῖοι) τὸ κατὰ Μαθαῖον εὐαγγέλιον πληρέστατον ἑβραιστι. – Haer. xxix. 9.

148

Καθῶς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐγράφη. —Ibid.

149

Ibid. xxx. 3.

150

Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ τοὺς ἀποστόλους.

151

Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ τοὺς δώδεκα. Origen calls it “The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles,” Homil. i. in Luc. St. Jerome the same, in his Prooem. in Comment. sup. Matt.

152

Adv. Pelag. iii. 10.

153

Ἀπομνημονεύματα τῶν Ἀποστόλων.

154

“Ἐν τοῖς γεγομένοις ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀπομνημονεύμασιν, ἅ καλεῖται Εὐαγγέλια.” And “ἐν τῷ λεγομένῳ Εὐαγγελίῳ,” when speaking of these Reminiscences, Dialog. cum Tryphon. § 11. Just. Mart. Opera, ed. Cologne, p. 227.

155

1 Apol. ii.

156

Justin Mart. Opp. ed. Cologne; 2 Apol. p. 64; Dialog. cum Tryph. p. 301; ibid. p. 253; 2 Apol. p. 64; Dial. cum Tryph. p. 326; 2 Apol. pp. 95, 96.

157

Οἱ ἐξ Ἀραβίας μάγοι, or μάγοι ἀπὸ Ἀραβίας. – Dialog. cum Tryph. pp. 303, 315, 328, 330, 334, &c.

158

Matt. ii. 1.

159

Ἐν σπηλαίῳ τινὶ σύνεγγυς τῆς κώμης κατέλυσε. – Dialog. cum. Tryph. pp. 303, 304.

160

Dial. cum Tryph. p. 291.

161

Euseb. Hist. Eccl. iii. 25.

162

Adv. Pelag. iii. 1.

163

Comm. in Ezech. xxiv. 7.

164

“De versione Syriacâ testatur Sionita, quod ut semper in summâ veneratione et auctoritate habita erat apud omnes populos qui Chaldaicâ sive Syriacâ utuntur linguâ, sic publicè in omnibus eorum ecclesiis antiquissimis, constitutis in Syriâ, Mesopotamiâ, Chaldaeâ, Aegypto, et denique in universis Orientis partibus dispersis ac disseminatis accepta ac lecta fuit.” – Walton: London Polyglott, 1657.

165

In Matt. iii. 17; Luke i. 71; John i. 3; Col. iii. 5.

166

It omits the 2nd and 3rd Epistles of St. John, the Epistle of Jude, and the Apocalypse.

167

As in the food of the Baptist, in the narrative of the baptism, in the mention of Zacharias, son of Barachias, in place of Zacharias, son of Jehoiada, the instruction to Peter on fraternal forgiveness, &c. It interprets the name Emmanuel.

168

Ignat. Ad. Smyrn. c. 3.

169

Catal. Script. Eccl. 15.

170

Clem. Alex. Strom. ii. 9.

171

Hom. xv. in Jerem.

172

Hist. Eccl. iii. 25. Some of those books of the New Testament now regarded as Canonical were also then reckoned among the Antilegomena.

173

Ἄρτι ἔλαβε μέ ἡ μήτηρ μοῦ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, ἐν μιᾷ τῶν τριχῶν μοῦ, καὶ ἀνήνενκε μὲ εἰς τὸ ὅρος τὸ μέγα Θαβὼρ. – Origen: Hom. xv. in Jerem., and in Johan.

174

Ἄρτι ἔλαβε μέ ἡ μήτηρ μοῦ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, ἐν μιᾷ τῶν τριχῶν μοῦ, καὶ ἀνήνενκε μὲ εἰς τὸ ὅρος τὸ μέγα Θαβὼρ. – Origen: Hom. xv. in Jerem., and in Johan.

175

“Modo tulit me mater mea Spiritus Sanctus in uno capillorum meorum.” – Hieron. in Mich. vii. 6.

176

Matt. iv. 1.

177

Acts viii. 39.

178

Τὴν δε θήλειαν καλεῖσθαι ἅγιον πνεῦμα. – Hippolyt. Refut. ix. 13, ed. Dunker, p. 462. So also St. Epiphanius, εἶναι δὲ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα θηλεῖαν. – Haeres. xix. 4, liii. 1.

179

Ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. vi. 38.

180

Haeres. xix. 1, xxx. 17.

181

Homilies, iii. 20-27.

182

In the “Refutation of Heresies” attributed by the Chevalier Bunsen and others to St. Hippolytus, Helena is said in Simonian Gnosticism to have been the “lost sheep” of the Gospels, the incarnation of the world principle – found, recovered, redeemed, by Simon, the incarnation of the divine male principle.

183

Ὁ θαυμάσας βασιλεύσει, γεγράπται, καὶ ὁ βασιλεύσας ἀναπαύσεται. Clem. Alex. Stromata, i. 9.

184

Strom. lib. vii. This was exaggerated in the doctrine of the Albigenses in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The “Perfects,” the ministers of the sect, “reconciled” the converted. But if one of the Perfect sinned (i. e. ate meat or married), all whom he had reconciled fell with him from grace, even those who were dead and in heaven.

185

Dial. cum Tryph. § 88.

186

“Sicut illud apostoli libenter audire: Omnia probate; quod bonum est tenete; et Salvatoris verba dicentis: Esto probati nummularii.” – Epist. ad Minervium et Alexandrum.

187

Homil. ii. 51, iii. 50, xviii. 20. Γίνεσθε τραπεζίται δόκιμοι.

188

Recog. ii. 51.

189

Stromat. i. 28.

190

“Inter maxima ponitur crimina qui fratris sui spiritum contristaverit.” St. Hieron. Comm. in Ezech. xvi. 7.

191

“Nunquam læti sitis nisi cum fratrem vestrum videritis in charitate.”

192

“Si peccaverit frater tuus in verbo, et satis tibi fecerit, septies in die suscipe eum. Dixit illi Simon discipulus ejus: Septies in die? Respondit Dominus et dixit ei: Etiam ego dico tibi, usque septuagies septies.” – Adv. Pelag. i. 3.