The Forbidden Gospels and Epistles Part 13

31 And so their sorrow being turned into gladness, and their mourning into mirth, they began to rejoice, and to make merry, and sing, being dressed in their richest attire, with bracelets.

32 Afterwards they glorified and praised G.o.d, saying, O Jesus, son of David, who changest sorrow into gladness, and mourning into mirth!

33 After this Joseph and Mary tarried there ten days, then went away, having received great respect from these people.

34 Who, when they took their leave of them, and returned home, cried,

35 But especially the girl.

CHAPTER VIII.

1 Joseph and Mary pa.s.s through a country infested by robbers.

3 t.i.tus a humane thief, offers Dumachus, his comrade, forty groats to let Joseph and Mary pa.s.s unmolested.

6 Jesus prophecies that the thieves Dumachus and t.i.tus shall be crucified with him and that t.i.tus shall go before him into paradise.

10 Christ causes a well to spring from a sycamore tree, and Mary washes his coat in it.

11 A balsam grows there from his sweat. They go to Memphis, where Christ works more miracles. Return to Judea.

15 Being warned, depart for Nazareth.

IN their journey from hence they came into a desert country and were told it was infested with robbers; so Joseph and St. Mary prepared to pa.s.s through it in the night.

2 And as they were going along, behold they saw two robbers asleep in the road, and with them a great number of robbers, who were their confederates, also asleep.

3 The names of these two were t.i.tus and Dumachus; and t.i.tus said to Dumachus, I beseech thee let these persons go along quietly, that our company may not perceive anything of them.

4 But Damachus refusing, t.i.tus again said, I will give thee forty groats, and as a pledge take my girdle, which he gave him before he had done speaking, that he might not open his mouth or make a noise.

5 When the Lady St. Mary saw the kindness which this robber did shew them, she said to him, The Lord G.o.d will receive thee to his right hand and grant thee pardon of thy sins.

6 Then the Lord Jesus answered, and said to his mother, When thirty years are expired, O mother, the Jews will crucify me at Jerusalem;

7 And these two thieves shall be with me at the same time upon the cross, t.i.tus on my right hand, and Dumachus on my left, and from that time t.i.tus shall go before me into paradise;

8 And when she had said, G.o.d forbid this should be thy lot, O my son, they went on to a city in which were several idols; which, as soon as they came near to it, was turned into hills of sand.

9 Hence they went to that sycamore tree, which is now called Matarea.

10 And in Materea the Lord Jesus caused a well to spring forth, in which St. Mary washed his coat;

11 And a balsam is produced, or grows, in that country, from the sweat which ran down there from the Lord Jesus.

12 Thence they proceeded to Memphis, and saw Pharoah, and abode three years in Egypt.

13 And the Lord Jesus did very many miracles, in Egypt, which are neither to be found in Gospel of the Infancy nor in the Gospel of Perfection.

14 At the end of three years he returned out of Egypt, and when he came near to Judea, Joseph was afraid to enter;

15 For hearing that Herod was dead, and that Archelaus his son reigned in his stead, he was afraid.

16 And when he went to Judea, an, angel of G.o.d appeared to him, and said, O Joseph go into the city of Nazareth, and abide there.

17 It is strange indeed, that he, who is the Lord of all countries, should be thus carried backward and forward, through so many countries.

CHAPTER IX.

2 Two sick children cured by water wherein Christ was washed.

WHEN they came afterwards into the city of Bethlehem, they found there several very desperate distempers, which became so troublesome to children by seeing them, that most of them died.

2 There was there a woman who had a sick son, whom she brought, when he was at the point of death, to the Lady St. Mary, who saw her when she was washing Jesus Christ.

3 Then said the woman, O my Lady Mary, look down upon this my son, who is afflicted with most dreadful pains.

4 St. Mary hearing her, said, Take a little of that water with which I have washed my son, and sprinkle it upon him.

5 Then she took a little of that water, as St. Mary had commanded, and sprinkled it upon her son, who being wearied with his violent pains, was fallen asleep; and after he had slept a little, awaked perfectly well and recovered.

6 The mother being abundantly glad of this success, went again to St. Mary, and St. Mary said to her, Give praise to G.o.d, who hath cured this thy son.

7 There was in the same place another woman, a neighbour of her, whose son was now cured.

8 This woman's son was afflicted with the same disease, and his eyes were now almost quite shut, and she was lamenting for him day and night.

9 The mother of the child which was cured, said to her, Why do you not bring your son to St. Mary, as I brought my son to her, when he was in the agonies of death; and he was cure by that water, with which the body of her son Jesus was washed?

10 When the woman heard her say this, she also went, and having procured the same water, washed her son with it, whereupon his body and his eyes were instantly restored to their former state.

11 And when she brought her son to St. Mary, and opened his case to her, she commanded her to give thanks to G.o.d for the recovery of her son's health, and tell no one what had happened.

CHAPTER X.

1 Two wives of one man, each have a son sick.

2 One of them named Mary, and whose son's name was Caleb, presents the Virgin with a handsome carpet, and Caleb is cured; but the son of the other wife dies, 4 which occasions a difference between the women.

5 The other wife puts Caleb into a hot oven, and he is miraculously preserved, 9 she afterwards throws him into a well, and he is again preserved; 11 his mother appeals to the Virgin against the other wife, 12 whose downfall the Virgin prophecies, 13 and who accordingly falls into the well, 14 therein fulfilling a saying of old.

THERE were in the same city two wives of one man, who had each a son sick. One of them was called Mary, and her son's name was Caleb.

2 She arose, and taking her son, went to the Lady St. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and offered her a very handsome carpet, saying, O my Lady Mary accept this carpet of me, and instead of it give me a small swaddling cloth.

3 To this Mary agreed, and when the mother of Caleb was gone, she made a coat for her son of the swaddling cloth, put it on him, and his disease was cured; but the son of the other wife died.

4 Hereupon there arose between them a difference in doing the business of the family by turns, each her week;