3 vols. 8vo); Burger, Erkldrung [Matthew, Mark, and Luke] (Nordlingcn, 1865, 8vo) ; Burgon, Commentary (new ed. London, 1865, 5 vols. 12mo) ; Bisping, Exeg. Ilandb. (Miinster, 1865, 8v'o); Warren, Notes (Boston, 1867, vol. i, 12nio). Sec New Testament.
GOSPELS, SPUPJOUS (Pseudepigraphal). The canon of the New Testament, as we have already seen, having been finally settled before tlie close of the 4th century, the rejected writings which bore the names of the apostles and evangelists soon sank into oblivion, and few, if any, have descended to our times in their original shape. From the decree of Gelasius and a few other sources we have the names and a few detached notices of a good many of these productions.
I. Of those still extant the following claim special no- tice :
1. The History of Joseph the Carpenter, which has been preserved in tlie East in an Arabic translation, was first made known in Europe in the commencement of the 16th centurj' by Isidore de Iso- lanis in his Summa de donis Sti. Josepld. He observes that the "Catholics of the East" commemorate St. Joseph on the 19th of March, and read the legend of the saint, omitting certain parts which are not ap- proved in the IJoman Church. This work was first published by AVallin, at Leipsic, in 1722, from an Ara- bic MS. of the loth century, in tlie Bibliolhhque du lioi, accompanied with a Latin translation. It was divided by Wallin into chapters and verses. It is also found in Coptic, Sahidic, and Memphic. It is highlj' es- teemed bj' the Copts. The former part, to chap, ix, ajipears to have been derived from an ancient Gospel of tlie Infancy. The Latin was republished bj' Fabri- cius.
The Gospel of the Infancy was first published by Henry Sike, at Utrecht, in 1697, from an Arabic MS. Sike's Latin version was republished by Fabri- cius, who divided it into chapters. The Arabic was divided into corresponding chapters by Thilo in 1832.
There are several jNISS. of this gospel extant, the oldest of wliich known is that in the Medieean Libra- ry', M-rittsn in 1299. Tlie narratives which it contains were current in the 2d century, and the account con- tained in this gospel respecting Christ's learning the alphabet is mentioned by Irenajus (Adv. Jlwres. i, 20) as a fabrication of the Marcosians. The Gospel of the Infancy is found in the catalogue of Gelasius, and it is especially remarkable from trie fact that it was most probably this gospel wliich was known to Mohammed, who seems to have been unacquainted with any of the canonical Scriptures, and who has inserted some of its narrations in the Koran. The Srpher Toldoih.Jcsii^ a well-known publication of the Jews, contains similar fables with those in this gospel (Wagenseil's Sota). This gospel was received as genuine by many of the
Eastern Christians, especially the Nestorians and ^lo- nophysites. It was found to have been universally read by the Sj'rians of St. Thomas, in Travaiicore, and was condemned bj' the Synod of Diamper, in 1599, bj' archbishop Menezes, who describes it as "the book called the Gospel of (he Infancy, alreadj' condemned by the ancients for its manj" blasphemous heresies and fabulous histories." Wherever the name Jesus occurs in this gospel he is universally entitled el-Rab, while Christ is called el-Sheik. This was a distinction in- troduced by the Nestorians. The blessed Virgin is also entitled the Ladj' Mary. The Persians and Copts also received this gospel (De la Brosse's Le.ric. Pers. s. V. Tinctoria Ars). The original language wr.s prob- ably Syriac. It is sometimes called the Gospel of Peter, or of Thomas.
2. The Gospel of Thomas the Israelite (Gr.), a work which has flowed from the same source with the former, was first published hy Cotelerius (Notes on the Constitutions of the Apostles, 1. vi, c. xvii, tom. i, p. 348), from an imperfect MS. of the 15th century. It was republished and divided into chapters bj' Fabri- cius. The most perfect edition was that of Mingarelli, in the Nuora Raccolla d'Opusculi scientifice eflosnfce (Venet. 1764), from a Bologna IMS. of the 15th century. Mingarelli (who believed it to have been a forger}- of the Manichees) accompanied his text with a Latin translation. Thilo has given a complete edition from a collation of Mingarelli's work with two MSS. pre- served at Bonn and Dresden. This gospel relates the fable of Christ's learning the Greek alphabet, in which it agrees with the account in Irenfcus. In other Gos- pels of the Infancy (as in that published b}' Sike) he is represented as learning the Hebrew letters. It has been questioned whether this is the same work which is called the Gospel of Thomas, b}' Origen, Ambrose, Bede, and others. This gospel probably had its origin among the Gnostics, and found its way from them, through the Manichees, into the Church ; but, having been more generally received among the heretics, it was seldom copied by the monks, which accounts for the paucity of MSS. Nicephorus says that the Gospel of Thomas contained 1300 crixot- This pseudepi- graphal work is probably the foundation of all the his- tories of Christ's infancy, but it is supposed to have been recast and interpolated.
3. The Protevanoelion of Ja:mes has descended to us in the original Greek, and was first published by Bibliander at Basel in 1552, in a Latin version b}' Wil- liam Postell, who asserted that it was publicly read in the Greek churches, and maintained that it was a gen- uine work of the apostle James, and intended to be placed at the head of St. Mark's Gospel. These com- mendations provoked the wrath of the learned Henry Stephens, who insinuated that it was fabricated by Pos- tell himself, whom he calls ''a detestable monster" (Introduction au Troite de la Conformite des Meneilles Anciennes arec les Modernes, 1566). It was reprinted in the Orihodoxngrapha of J. Ilerold (Basel, 1555), and again in the Oiilwdoxographa, vol. i (1569), of Jacob Grynajus, who entertained a very favorable ojiiiiion of it. Subsequent discoveries have proved that, not- withstanding the absurdity of Postell's high preten- sions in favor of' the authenticity of this gospel, Ste- phens's accusations against him were all ill founded. There had, even at the time when Stephens wrote, been already a Greek translation published b}' Neander, of which Stephens was not aware ; it appeared among the Apocni'pha annexed by Oporiu to his edition of Lu- ther's Catechism (Basel, 1564\ It was r?pulilished by Fabricius (who divided it into chapters), and sub- sequently by Birch, Thilo, and Tischendorf. Thilo collated "for his edition six Paris MSS., the oldest of which is of the 10th century. From the circumstance of these MSS. containing a Greek calendar or martyr- ology, and from other internal evidences, there seems little doubt that this gospel was formerly read in the