GOSPELS
941
GOTAMA
H as the Gospel of Mattliew — interpolated, however, Ly tho Nazarenes. Baroniiis and Grabe think that it was cited bv Ignatius, or the author of the epistles as- cribed to him. Others loolc upon it as a translation altered from the Greelc of Mattliew. Mr. Jones thinks that this gospel was referred to by Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians. It is referred to b}' Hegesippus (Eusebius, Eccles. Hist, iv, 22), Clemens Alexandrinus (Strom, ii, p. 280), Origen, Comm. on John; Horn, viii in Matthew), and Eusebius {Hist. Eccles. iii, 25, 27, 39). Epiphanius (Hen: § 29, 30) informs us that it was held in great repute by the ancient Judaizing Christians, and that it began thus : " It came to pass in the daj-s of Ilerod, king of Judsea, that John came baptizing Avith tlie baptism of repentance in the river Jordan," etc. It consequently wanted the genealogy and the first two chapters.
2. Tlie Gospel of the Egyptians is cited by Clemens Alexandrinus (Sti'om. iii, p. 445, 452, 453, 4G5), Origen (Horn, in Luc. p. 1), Ambrose, Jerome {Frcrf. ti) his Comm. on 3/att.), and Epiphanius (Har. Ixii, § 2). Grabe, IMill, Du Pin, and fatlier Simon, who thought highly of this gospel, looked upon it as one of the works referred to by Luke in the commence- ment of his gospel. Mill ascribes its origin to the Essenes, and supposes this and the former gospel to have been composed in or a little before A.D. 58. It is cited by the Pseudo-Clement {Second Ejiistle to the Corinthians, Chevallier's translation, 1833), who is gen- erally supposed to have written not before the 3d cen- tury.— Kitto, s. V.
III. Literature. — See Car. Chr. Schmidt's Corpus omnium vet. Apocr. extra Biblia ; Kleuker, De Apocr. JV. Test. (Hamburg, 1798) ; Birch's Auctuarium, fasc. 1 (Hafn. 1804) ; Cave, Hist. Lit. ; Oudin, Script. Eccl. ; Ant. V. Dale, De orirj. idolol. p. 253 sq. ; Pritius, Ln- ' trod, in N. Test. p. 6, 58 ; jNIosheim, Dissertt. ad Hist. Eccl. spect. i, 217 ; Nitzsch, De apocr. Ecang. (Viteb. 1808) ; Tischendorf, De Evv. apocr. oriyine et usu (Hag. 1851); Reuss, Gcsch. der H. S. neucn Test. § 258 sq. ; Hofmann, Das Leben Jesu nach den .A pocrjiphen (Lpz. 1851). A list of most of these apocrj'phal addenda to the N. Test, ma}' be seen in Toland's A mijntor (1 G99) ; and a fuller list in Toland's reply to Dr. Blackball s (bishop of Exeter) attack on the Amyntor, found in Des Malzeaux's edition of Toland's Miscellaneous (pos-t- humous) Worls (London, 1747, 2 vols. 8vo), i, 350-403. Most of these spurious fragments were collected and published bj' Fabricius in liis Codex AjJocryphus Noci Testamenii (3 vols. 8vo, Hanih. 1719-43). This work, with additions by Thilo and others, was republished by Dr. Giles (London, 1852). English translations of some of tliese early forgeries will be found in the works of Jones, Lardner, Whiston, Cotton, and Lau- rence. Hone's Ajjocryphal vV. T. (London, 1820) con- tains a translation of manj' of them. Other collections (in the original languages), more or less complete, have been made by Grabe {Spicileg. Pairum et Hwret. sa;c. i-iii, Oxon. 1G98), Schmid {Corpus ylpocryph. extra Bihlia, Had. 1804), and especially Thilo {Cod. Ajwcr. N. Test. coll. et illustr. Lips. 1832, vol. i). Still later, Tischendorf has edited (in some cases for the first time published) tlie following apocryphal gospels {Evangelia Apocrypha, Lips. 1843, 8vo) : " Protevangel of James" (Gr.); "Pseudo-Matthew's Gospel" (Lat.); "Gospel of the Nativity of Mary" (Lat.) ; "History of Joseph the Carpenter" (Latin, from the Arabic) ; " Gospel of Thomas" (Greek .4); "Gospel of Thomas" (Greeks); "Gospel of Thomas" (Lat.); "Gospel of the Infancy of Christ" (Lat. from the Arab.) ; " Deeds of Pilate" (Greek .4) ; " Deeds of Pilate" (Gr. /J) ; " Descent of Christ into hell" (Latin A) ; "First Epistle of Pilate" (Lat.) ; " Descent of Christ into hell" (Lat. B) ; " Sec- ond Epistle of Pilate" (Lat.); "Anaphora of Pilate" (Gr. A); "Anaphora of Pilate" (Gr. B); " Paradosis of Pilate" (Gr.) ; " Death of Pilate" (Lat.) ; " Narra- tive of Joseph of Arimathasa" (Gr.) -. " Defence of the
Saviour" (Lat.). See also H. Cowper, The Apocryphal Gospels, etc., translated, with notes, etc. (London, 1867, 8vo); A. Hilgenfeld, Nov. Testam. extra canonem, em- bracing the apocryphal gospels, epistles, etc., with notes, etc. (Lips. 186G sq.). See Apocrypha.
Gosschel. See Goeschel.
Gossip (from " 6W and "sji," a Saxon word signifying "kindred"), a name given in England to sponsors as bearing a spiritual relationship to the chil- dren for whom they stand. — Procter, On Common Prayer, p. ;jGl.
Gossner, Johannes Evangelista, a prominent divine of tlie Evangelical Church of Germany, was born in 1773, of Eoman Catholic parents, at Hansen, near Augsburg. He studied at Dillingen under Sailer (q. v.) and Zimmer, entered in 1793 the College of In- golstadt, and, having been ordained priest, was in 1797 appointed chaplain. The profoundly evangelical con- victions which he had already had for several years were strengthened by personal intercourse and corre- spondence with Martin Boos (q. v.), and they were cer- tainly not weakened by persecutions from ultramon- tane zealots. In 1804 he was appointed parish priest at Dirlewang, wliich position he resigned in isll in order to accept a small benefice at Munich, which al- lowed him greater liberty in his evangelistic and lit- erarj' labors. Having been deposed in 1817 on ac- count of his evangelical views, he was in 1819 appoint- ed professor at the gj'mnasium of Dnsseldorf. From 1820 to 1824 he was pastor of a German congregation in St. Petersburg ; in 1826 he openly joined the Evan- gelical Church ; in 1827 he became pastor of the Beth- lehem church at Berlin. He died March 20, 1858. He wrote a great deal to the last. At seventy he learned English, and translated some of Kj'le's tracts when he was upwards of eighty. His writings, numbering (ex- clusive of many posthumous works) fortj'-six, occupy the presses of a separate book and tract societ}'. They enjoy unusual popularity, some having run through an- nual or semi-annual editions for many years. Among the best known of his works are the Schatzkdsikin (1824) and Goldkorner (1859). U p to the spring of 1858 he corrected proofs and continued his correspondence. The summer previous he was still able to train his vines. He established a missionary society, which during his lifetime sent out more than 140 missiona- ries. His life was, like the life of Abraham, one of wonderful faith. From humble little Hansen and the unnoticed struggles of a country priest, he rose to be the Father Gossner of a reverent, religious Germany. The storj' of his life is well told in a little volume pub- lished by the Carters, of New York. — Bethmann-Holl- weg, ./. Gossner (Berlin, 1858) ; see also Prochnow, J. Gossner, Biographic aits Tagehia^frn u. Briefcn (Berl. 1863-4, 2 vols.); Herzog, Real-Encyhlopddie, xix, 572. (A. J. S.)