Chapter XVIII

, while I do not understand why Joshua is not mentioned in connection with “The magical control of the sun,” _Ibid._, I, 311-19.

[1670] However, the _Apocrypha of the New Testament_ may be read in English translation by Alexander Walker in _The Ante-Nicene Fathers_ (American edition), VIII, 357-598, and in that by Hone in 1820, which has since been reprinted without change. It includes only a part of the apocrypha now known and presents these in a blind fashion without explanation. It differs from Tischendorf’s text of the apocryphal gospels (_Evangelia Apocrypha_, ed. Tischendorf, Lipsiae, 1876) both in the titles of the gospels, the distribution of the texts under the respective titles, and the division into chapters. I have, however, sometimes used Hone’s wording in making quotations. Older than Tischendorf is Thilo, _Codex apocryphus Novi Testamenti_, Leipzig, 1832; Fabricius, etc.

[1671] It is ascribed to the second century both by Tischendorf and _The Catholic Encyclopedia_ (“Apocrypha,” 607). There are plenty of fairly early Greek MSS for it.

[1672] The Greek MSS are of the 15th and 16th centuries; Tischendorf examined only partially a Latin palimpsest of it which is probably of the fifth century.

[1673] So argues _The Catholic Encyclopedia_, 608; Tischendorf seems inclined to date the Gospel of Thomas a little later than that of James, and to hold that we possess only a fragment of it.

[1674] _Evang. Inf. Arab._, cap. 25, “fecitque dominus Iesus plurima in Egypto miracula quae neque in evangelio infantiae neque in evangelio perfecto scripta reperiuntur.”

[1675] Tischendorf (1876), p. xlviii. As I have already intimated on other occasions, it seems to me no explanation to call such stories “oriental.” Christianity was an oriental religion to begin with. Moreover, as our whole investigation goes to show, both classical antiquity and the medieval west were ready enough both to repeat and to invent similar tales.

[1676] It may be noted, however, that the chief miracles of the Gospels were attacked as “absurd or unworthy of the performer” nearly two centuries ago by Thomas Woolston in his _Discourses on the Miracles of our Saviour_, 1727-1730. The words in quotation marks are from J. B. Bury’s _History of Freedom of Thought_, 1913, p. 142.

[1677] Migne, PL, 59, 162 ff. The list was reproduced with slight variations by Hugh of St. Victor in the twelfth century in his _Didascalicon_ (IV, 15), and in the thirteenth century by Vincent of Beauvais in the _Speculum Naturale_ (I, 14).

[1678] Tischendorf (1876), pp. xxiii-xxiv.

[1679] Mâle (1913), pp. 207-8.

[1680] Since writing this, I find that Mâle has been impressed by the same resemblance. He writes (1913), p. 207, “Some chapters in the apocryphal gospels are like the _Life of Apollonius of Tyana_ or even like _The Golden Ass_, permeated with the belief in witchcraft and magic.” The resemblance to Apuleius is also noted in AN, VIII, 353.

[1681] Tischendorf, _Evang. Infantiae Arabicum_, caps. 20-21.

[1682] _Ibid._, cap. 17.

[1683] _Ibid._, cap. 20, “nullum in mundo doctum aut magum aut incantatorem omisimus quin illum accerseremus; sed nihil nobis profuit.”

[1684] _Evang. Inf. Arab._, cap. 35, “Extemplo exivit ex puero illo satanas fugiens cani rabido similis.” The apocryphal gospel adds, “This same boy who struck Jesus,” i. e., while he was still possessed by the demon, “and out of whom Satan went in the form of a dog, was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him to the Jews. And that same side, on which Judas struck him, the Jews pierced with a lance.”

[1685] _Ibid._, cap. 44; _Evang. Thomae Lat._, cap. 7; _Ps. Matth._, cap. 32.

[1686] _Evang. Inf. Arab._, cap. 15.

[1687] _Ibid._, cap. 19, “qui veneficio tactus uxore frui non poterat.”

[1688] _Ibid._, cap. 14.

[1689] _Ibid._, cap. 16.

[1690] See below,