The Apocryphal New Testament (1924)/Infancy Gospels/Appendixes to the Gospel of Thomas
APPENDIX I
From the Pistis Sophia.
The Gnostic book called Pistis Sophia (see Introd.) contains a characteristic account of an incident of the Infancy. It may be compared with the Hymn of the Soul in the Acts of Thomas. The book in which it occurs is of the third century.
C. Schmidt’s version, p. 77. Mary answered and said: . . . Thy Power prophesied through David: Grace and Truth are met together, Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other. Truth hath flourished out of the earth, and Righteousness hath looked down from heaven. Thus did thy Power prophesy once concerning thee. When thou wast little, before the Spirit came upon thee, the Spirit came from the height whilst thou wast in a vineyard with Joseph, and came unto me in mine house in thy likeness, and I knew it not, and I thought that it was thou. And the Spirit said unto me: Where is Jesus my brother, that I may meet with him? And when it spake thus unto me, I was in perplexity, and thought that it was a phantom come to tempt me. I took it therefore and bound it to the foot of the bed that was in mine house, until I should go forth unto thee and Joseph in the field and find you in the vineyard, where Joseph was staking the vineyard. It came to pass then, that when thou heardest me tell the matter unto J oseph, thou understoodest the matter, and didst rejoice, and say: Where is he, that I may behold him? otherwise I will tarry for him in this place. And it came to pass, when Joseph heard thee speak these words, he was troubled: and we went together and entered into the house and found the Spirit bound to the bed. And we looked upon thee and upon it, and found that thou wert like unto him: and he that was bound to the bed was loosed, and embraced thee and kissed thee, and thou also kissedst him, and ye became one.
Mary goes on to expound the application of the passage she had quoted from the Psalm.
APPENDIX II
I. Miracle of the Dyer.
In a Paris manuscript (gr. 239) of the Gospel of Thomas a fragment of this story is contained in Greek (Tisch., p. 148 n.). It occurs in no other Greek or Latin manuscript of Thomas. But in the Milan Ambrosian MS. L. 58 sup., edited in facsimile by Ceriani for Gibson Craig (1873, Canonical Histories and Apocryphal Legends), it occurs in Latin on p. 12, being the first miracle after the Return from Egypt. It is also told in the Arabic Gospel, ch. 88, and, at great length, in the Armenian (ch. xxi, Peeters, p. 232-46). Thilo quotes a Mohammedan version (p. 150), and shows that the tale was current in Persia. There seems little doubt that it stood in the completer texts of the Gospel of Thomas. It is found in the mediaeval French and English Histories of the Infancy, and doubtless in other vernacular versions. I give a rendering from the Milan MS.
It came to pass on a day that the blessed Virgin Mary went unto the house of a certain neighbour of hers which was of the craft of a dyer. And the child Jesus, her glorious son, followed her as is the wont of boys to follow their mothers. Now while the Virgin Mary spake with the man unto whom she had come, the child Jesus went unto the place wherein that man was wont to practise his trade, and found there divers vessels containing several dyes; and likewise he found divers cloths belonging to many men, which those men had given to be dyed. All the which cloths the child took and wrapped them together and sunk all of them in a vessel wherein was only a black dye.
Now when this thing which he had done came to the knowledge of that man, he began to be sore vexed and to complain greatly against the mother of Jesus. And he said to his mother: Alas! behold what thy son hath done: he hath brought all my labour to_nought. But know thou this for certain, that the child shall not be let go by me till the damage that he hath done be made good. But the mother of Jesus when she heard these things from the man began to say unto her son: My beloved son, what hast thou done? wherefore hast thou done this? for I hoped that I should have great joy of thee: for I know how I had thee (=received thee?). But thou, whereas thou oughtest to make me glad in all things, as thou hast done alway, now contrariwise makest me sad. The child Jesus answered his mother ⟨and said: Wherein have I grieved thee?⟩. The blessed virgin said unto him: See, thou hast destroyed all the labour of this man. But Jesus said unto her: How have I destroyed it? His mother answered and said unto him: Because, whereas he had the cloths from many men to give to each one of their cloths a several dye, thou hast made of all of them a dye of one colour. Now, therefore, I must amend that which thou hast done. But the beautiful child Jesus when he heard that came near to the vessel wherein he had cast the cloths, and according to the will of the master he drew thereout every cloth dyed of a several colour and gave them unto the man.
And when that man saw it, together with the mother of the Lord, he glorified the child, and they had him in great admiration. But the virgin, the mother of the Lord, embraced her son in her arms and kissed him, and so being filled with great joy returned to her house with Christ her son.
II. Miracle of the Children in the Oven.
This does not occur in known Greek or Latin texts, but is in the Arabic Gospel (ch. 40), the Syriac History (Budge), and also in the French and English mediaeval versions (in which the children are changed into pigs). Most probably the occurrence in both East and West means that the story formed part of the text that lies behind all the versions. I quote Sir E. A. Wallis Budge’s rendering of the Syriac (History of the Virgin, p. 76).
And it came to pass that Jesus went out one day and saw a company of children playing together, and he went after them, but they fled before him and went into a furnace (al. cellar). And Jesus came after them and stood by the door and said unto the women who were sitting there: Where are the children who came in here before me? And the women said unto Jesus: No children came here. Then Jesus said unto them: Then what are the beings that are inside the house? And the women said unto him: They are goats. And Jesus said unto them: Let the goats which are in the furnace go out to their shepherds. And there came forth from the furnace goats which leaped round about Jesus and skipped joyfully. And when the women had seen what had taken place, they wondered, and great fear laid hold upon them. Then the women rose up and did homage unto Jesus, and they made supplication unto him, saying: O Jesus, thou son of Mary, thou good shepherd of Israel, have compassion upon thine handmaidens; for thou didst come to heal and not to destroy. And Jesus answered and said unto them: Verily the children of Israel are like unto the black folk among the natives, for the black ones seize the outer side of the flock and harass their shepherd: even thus are the people of Israel. Then the women said unto him: Thy disciples could never hide themselves away from thee, and they could never harass thee, for they perform thy will and they fulfil thy commandments. [Arab. Lord, thou knowest all things and nothing is hid from thee. Now we pray thee and ask of thy goodness that thou wouldest restore unto these children thy servants their former state.] And Jesus gave the word of command and said unto the goats: Come, O ye children, my playfellows, and let us play together. And straightway whilst these women were looking on, they were changed from the similitude of goats and became children again. And they went after Jesus. And from that day the children were not able to flee from J esus; and their parents admonished them saying: See that ye do everything that Jesus the son of Mary commandeth you to do.
III. The Boy in the Tower.
It is more doubtful whether this story belongs to the old stock. It occurs in the mediaeval vernaculars, and may probably be discovered in some Latin text at least. I quote one of the English metrical versions (MS. Harley 3954, ed. Horstmann, Sammlung altenglischer Legenden, 1878, p. 108). The spelling is slightly simplified.
That to Jhesu had envye,
Josep fader, Braudyn hyth he,
Ouer his sone he made maystrye.
He seyd: my sone, thou were me dere,
Now thou dost ayen my wylle
To ben with Jhesu, of hym to lere—
Thou were wel betre to ben stylle.
In a tour of lym and stone,
Hys loue thou xalt abyin (rue), Josep,
Ne geynyt the no betre won.
To the xal noman komyn ne lep:
Ther myth thou cry & kalle alon
That noman of the xal takyn kep,
Ne for onys to her thi bon.
I suere by God adonay
Lyth ther thou xalt non haue:
Lud thou cry wellaway,
Non helpe geynyt the to craue.
Out of presoun xal the not bryng
Be (By) no maner of sharment (charm)
That he kan of rede & synge.
Josep seyd anon ryth:
‘Fader, thou myth done thi wyl.
Jhesu is ful of mekyl myth,
He wyl not suffre me to spyle.’
Josep left in that prisoun,
The dorys weryn lokyn faste;
Ther lay Josep al alon,
To hym kam Jhesu ryth in haste.
‘For my loue thou lyst here,
Thou xalt se more of my vertu,
For so I wyl, my leue fere.’
Jhesu fond a lytyl bore (hole)
And bad Josep hys fynger take:
Heyl & sond as he was core
He kam out withoutyn wrake.
Euer with Jhesu he wold be;
Nothyng myth hym lette:
Euer was Jhesu hym so fre,
For hys felaw he hym fette.
In some versions the father, returning and finding the tower empty, is struck blind. The names in the English version, Joseph and Braudyn, are probably the versifier’s invention. Both the Infancies printed by Horstmann contain many such names, which do not occur elsewhere.
Other miracles which find a place in the vernacular versions or in the Vita Rhythmica (see p. 82) are: Jesus slides on a sunbeam, and other boys attempting this fall and are hurt, and cured; he hangs his pitcher on a sunbeam, other boys’ pitchers are (similarly) broken and mended; he brings bitter herbs to Mary and sweetens them by putting flour in the pot; a lion carries off a shepherd’s boy and is made to bring him back; he finds a hunter killed by a snake and raises him; he cures one who had swallowed a viper in his sleep.