The Forbidden Gospels and Epistles Part 17

9 And when they came to the Lord Jesus, he inquired, On what account they carried that boy?

10 And when they answered that a serpent had bitten him, the Lord Jesus said to the boys, Let us go and kill that serpent.

11 But when the parents of the boy desired to be excused, because their son lay at the point of death; the boys made answer, and said, Did not ye hear what the king said? Let us go and kill the serpent; and will not ye obey him?

12 So they brought the couch back again, whether they would or not.

13 And when they were come to the nest, the Lord Jesus said to the boys, Is this the serpent's lurking place? They said, It was.

14 Then the Lord Jesus calling the serpent, it presently came forth and submitted to him; to whom he said, Go and suck out all the poison which thou hast infused into that boy:

15 So the serpent crept to the boy, and took away all its poison again.

16 Then the Lord Jesus cursed the serpent, so that it immediately burst asunder, and died;

17 And he touched the boy with his hand to restore him to his former health;

18 And when he began to cry, the Lord Jesus said, Cease crying for hereafter thou shall be my disciple;

19 And this is that Simon the Canaanite, who is mentioned in the Gospel.

CHAPTER XIX.

1 James being bitten by a viper, Jesus blows on the wound and cures him.

4 Jesus charged with throwing a boy from the roof of a house, 10 miraculously raises the dead boy to acquit him; 12 fetches water for his mother, breaks the pitcher and miraculously gathers the water in his mantle and brings it home; 16 makes fish pools on the Sabbath, 20 causes a boy to die who broke them down, 22 another boy runs against him, whom he also causes to die.

ON another day Joseph sent his son James to gather wood, and the Lord Jesus went with him;

2 And when they came to the place where the wood was, and James began to gather it, behold, a venomous viper bit him, so that he began to cry, and make a noise.

3 The Lord Jesus seeing him in this condition, came to him, and blowed upon the place where the viper had bit him, and it was instantly well.

4 On a certain day the Lord Jesus was with some boys, who were playing on the house-top, and one of the boys fell down, and presently died.

5 Upon which the other boys all running away, the Lord Jesus was left alone on the house-top.

6 And the boy's relations came to him and said to the Lord Jesus, Thou didst throw our son down from the house-top.

7 But he denying it, they cried out, Our son is dead, and this is he who killed him.

8 The Lord Jesus replied to them, Do not charge me with a crime of which you are not able to convict me, but let us go and ask the boy himself, who will bring the truth to light.

9 Then the Lord Jesus going down stood over the head of the dead boy, and said with a loud voice, Zeinunus, Zeinunus, who threw thee down from the housetop?

10 Then the dead boy answered, thou didst not throw me down, but such a one did.

11 And when the Lord Jesus bade those who stood by to take present praised G.o.d on account of that miracle.

12 On a certain time the Lady St. Mary had commanded the Lord Jesus to fetch her some water out of the well;

13 And when he had gone to fetch the water, the pitcher, when it was brought up full, brake;

14 But Jesus spreading his mantle gathered up the water again, and brought it in that to his mother;

15 Who, being astonished at this wonderful thing, laid up this, and all the other things which she had seen, in her memory.

16 Again on another day the Lord Jesus was with some boys by a river, and they drew water out of the river by little channels, and made little fish-pools.

17 But the Lord Jesus had made twelve sparrows, and placed them about his pool on each side, three on a side.

18 But it was the Sabbath day, and the son of Hanani a Jew came by, and saw them making these things, and said, Do ye thus make figures of clay on the Sabbath?

And he ran to them, and broke down their fish-pools.

19 But when the Lord Jesus clapped his hands over the sparrows which he had made, they fled away chirping.

20 At length the son of Hanani coming to the fish-pool of Jesus to destroy it, the water vanished away, and the Lord Jesus said to him,

21 In like manner as this water had vanished, so shall thy life vanish; and presently the boy died.

22 Another time, when the Lord Jesus was coming home in the evening with Joseph, he met a boy, who ran so hard against him, that he threw him down;

23 To whom the Lord Jesus said, As thou hast thrown me down, so shalt thou fall, nor ever rise.

24 And that moment the boy fell down and died.

CHAPTER XX.

4 Christ sent to school to Zaccheus to learn his letters, and teaches Zaccheus.

13 Sent to another schoolmaster, 14 refuses to tell his letters, and the schoolmaster going to whip him, his hand withers and he dies.

THERE was also at Jerusalem one named Zaccheus, who was a schoolmaster:

2 And he said to Joseph, Joseph, why dost thou not send Jesus to me, that he may learn his letters?

3 Joseph agreed, and told St. Mary;

4 So they brought him to that master; who, as soon as he saw him, wrote out an alphabet for him,

5 And he bade him say Aleph; and when he had said Aleph, the master bade him p.r.o.nounce Beth.

6 Then the Lord Jesus said to him, Tell me first the meaning of the letter Aleph, and then I will p.r.o.nounce Beth.

7 And when the master threatened to whip him, the Lord Jesus explained to him the meaning of the letters Aleph and Beth;

8 Also which were the straight figures of the letters, which the oblique, and what letters had double figures; which had points, and which had none; why one letter went before another; and many other things he began to tell him, and explain, of which the master himself had never heard, nor read in any book.