Smite the boy, like . even so to all thy servants
The lion will be . . . the stag in the secret of his den
And he pours out his blood and eats his flesh ...
The ass has left . . . and does not carry it. He takes up
from his companions . . . which was not his.

Watch carefully over thy mouth . . . and make thy heart slow, for the word spoken is like a bird, and he who utters it is like a man without ... the craft of the mouth is mightier than the craft . . .

Do not conceal the word of a king

They deal with trees by fire, with flesh by a knife, and with

Let not thy heart rejoice in the multitude of children, and over their fewness be not discouraged.

A king is as a merciful man, also his voice is higher than that of him who stands before him . .

The king is fair to look on as the sun, and for them that walk the earth, his adornment is costly

My son, I have lifted sand, and I have carried salt, but there was nothing heavier than . . .

I have lifted straw and handled the plow . . and there was nothing lighter than the man who dwells in

The panther met the goat, and it was naked. And the panther answered and said to the goat, Come and I will cover thee with my skin.

The goat answered and said to the panther, Why skin? Take it not from me

my

The wolf came to the lambs . . . and I will be silent. The lambs answered and said to him, Take what thou wantest

from us...

Nothing lies in a man's power, to lift up his foot or to set it down

Do not bend thy bow and shoot an arrow at the upright, lest God should . . . and cause it to return upon thyself. Thou hast bent thy bow and shot thy arrow at one who is more righteous than thou. That is a sin against our God.

A loan is heavy, and borrow thou not from a man. and if thou contractest a loan, give thy soul no peace until . . .

in thine ears, for the charm of a man is his trustiness, and his hatred is lying with his lips.

The son of my body has spied out my house. . . he has told strangers . . .

He has become a false witness against me:

And who will now declare my righteousness?

With him that is higher than thyself do not...
With him that is stronger .. than thyself, do not...

The thorn-bush sent to the pomegranate, and said

The thorn-bush to the pomegranate: How numerous are thy thorns for him who handles thee!

The pomegranate answered and said to the thorn-bush,

Thou art all thorns for him who handles thee.

THE GOSPELS OF THE INFANCY

"The secret conviction buoys us up, that perchance they may contain a few traces of time-honored traditions—some faint, feeble glimpses of that blessed childhood, that pensive and secluded youth, over which, in passive moments, we muse with such irrepressible longing to know more such deep, deep desideration."

BISHOP ELLICOTT.

THE GOSPELS OF THE INFANCY OF JESUS

THE

(INTRODUCTION)

HE apocrypha of the New Testament differ from those of the Old Testament at least in this: there has never been any serious possibility of their acceptance. The moment any one of them has come before any competent church authority it has been rejected as not belonging among inspired writings.

Neither have these later apocrypha any serious standing as historical works. They are thus almost wholly dependent for interest upon their human value. They represent the fancies and poetic imaginings with which men at a very early period surrounded the most beloved of all human figures, Jesus of Nazareth. They depict also the hatred and contumely which were heaped upon those who had opposed or injured Jesus. Literature knows no books more filled with natural human passion than these apocrypha.

Among the surviving New Testament apocrypha the "Protevangelium" is apparently the earliest. It was probably written in Greek in the second century A.D. by a Christian of the Jewish race, but one who was not wholly familiar with Jewish history, for he makes several small errors about the customs of Jesus' day. "Protevangelium means the primary or introductory gospel, and was applied to this work as being devoted to the events preceding the birth of Jesus or occurring in his earliest infancy. The James to whom it is attributed is traditionally assumed to be the James who was a son of Joseph, and foster-brother of Jesus. There is very little of a doctrinal nature in the book, so it can scarcely have been written to support any particular religious sect; and its legends are so old that they must bear some relation to the known facts of the day. All the later apocrypha of Jesus'