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 pronounce Beth.

6 Then the Lord Jesus said to him, Tell me first the meaning of the letter Aleph, and then I will pronounce 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.

9 The Lord Jesus farther said to the master, Take notice how I say to thee; then he began clearly and distinctly to say Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, and so on to the end of the alphabet.

10 At this the master was so surprised, that he said, I believe this boy was born before Noah;

11 And turning to Joseph, he said, Thou hast brought a boy to me to be taught, who is more learned than any master.

12 He said also to St. Mary, This your son has no need of any learning.

13 They brought him then to a more learned master, who, when he saw him, said, say Aleph;

14 And when he had sand Aleph, the master bade him pronounce Beth; to which the Lord Jesus replied, Tell me first the meaning of the letter Aleph, and then I will pronounce Beth.

15 But this master, when he did lift up his hand to whip him, had his hand presently withered, and he died.

16 Then said Joseph to St. Mary, Henceforth we will not allow him to go out of the house; for every one who displeases him is killed.

CHAPTER XXI

[Compare Luke ii. 42, whose meagre account is deficient of the sublime details here given of the subjects disputed upon.]

1 Disputes learnedly with the doctors in the temple,

7 on law,

9 on astronomy,

12 on physics and metaphysics.

21 Is worshiped by a philosopher,

28 and fetched home by his mother.

AND when he was twelve years old, they brought him to Jerusalem to the feast; and when the feast was over, they returned.

2 But the Lord Jesus continued behind in the temple among the doctors and elders, and learned men of Israel; to whom he proposed several questions of learning, and also gave them answers:

3 For he said to them, Whose son is the Messiah? They answered, the son of David.

4 Why then, said he, does he in the spirit call him Lord? When he saith, The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, till I have made thine enemies thy foot- stool.

5 Then a certain principal Rabbi asked him, Hast thou read books?

6 Jesus answered, be had read both books, and the things which were contained in books.

7 And he explained to them the books of the law, and precepts, and statutes: and the mysteries which are contained in the books of the prophets; things which the mind of no creature could reach.

8 Then said that Rabbi, I never yet have seen or heard of such knowledge! What do you think that boy will be?

9 When a certain astronomer, who was present, asked the Lord Jesus, Whether he had studied astronomy?

10 The Lord Jesus replied, and told him the number of the spheres and heavenly bodies, as also their triangular, square, and sextile aspect; their progressive and retrograde motion; their size and several prognostications; and other things which the reason of man had never discovered.

11 There was also among them a philosopher well skilled in physic and natural philosophy, who asked the Lord Jesus, Whether he had studied physic?

12 He replied, and explained to him physics and metaphysics.

13 Also those things which were above and below the power of nature;

14 The powers also of the body, its humours, and their effects.

15 Also the number of its members, and bones, veins, arteries, and nerves;

16 The several constitutions of body, hot and dry, cold and moist, and the tendencies of them;

17 How the soul operated upon the body;

18 What its various sensations and faculties, were;

19 The faculty of speaking, anger, desire;

20 And lastly the manner of its composition and dissolution; and other things, which the understanding of no creature had ever reached.

21 Then that philosopher arose, and worshipped the Lord Jesus, and said, O Lord Jesus, from henceforth I will be thy disciple and servant.

22 While they were discoursing on these and such like things, the Lady St. Mary came in, having been three days walking about with Joseph, seeking for him.

23 And when she saw him sitting among the doctors, and in his turn proposing questions to them, and giving answers, she said to him, My son, why hast thou done thus by us? Behold I and thy father have been at much pains in seeking thee.

24 He replied, Why did ye seek me? Did ye not know that I ought to be employed in my father's house?

25 But they understood not the words which he said to them.

26 Then the doctors asked Mary, Whether this were her son? And when she said, He was, they said, O happy Mary, who hast borne such a son.

27 Then he returned with them to Nazareth, and obeyed them in all things.

28 And his mother kept all these things in her mind;

29 And the Lord Jesus grew in stature and wisdom, and favour with God and man.

CHAPTER XXII

1 Jesus conceals his miracles, 2 studies the law, 3 and is baptized.

NOW from this time Jesus began to conceal his miracles and secret works,

2 And gave himself to the study of the law, till he arrived to the end of his thirtieth year;

3 At which time the Father publicly owned him at Jordan, sending down this voice from heaven, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased;

4 The Holy Ghost being also present in the form of a dove.

5 This is he whom we worship with all reverence, because he gave us our life and being, and brought us from our mother's womb, Glory to God,

6 Who, for our sakes, took a human body, and hath redeemed us, that so he might embrace us with everlasting mercy, and shew his free, large, bountiful grace and goodness to us.

7 To him be glory and praise, and power, and dominion, from henceforth said for evermore. Amen.

(The end of the whole Gospel of the Infancy, by the assistance of the Supreme God, according to what we found in the original.)

REFERENCES TO THE FIRST GOSPEL OF THE INFANCY OF JESUS CHRIST

[Mr. Henry Sike, Professor of Oriental Languages at Cambridge, first translated and published this Gospel in 1697. It was received by the Gnostics, a sect of Christians in the second century; and several of its relations were credited in the following ages by other Christians, viz., Eusebius, Athanasius, Epiphanius; Chrysostom. &c. Sozomen says, he was told by many, and he credits the relations, of the idols in Egypt falling down on Joseph, and Mary's flight thither with Christ; and of Christ making a well to wash his clothes in a sycamore-tree, from whence balsam afterwards proceeded; which stories are from this Gospel. Chemnitius, out of Stipulensis, who had it from Peter Martyr, Bishop of Alexandria, in the third century, says, that the place in Egypt where Christ was banished is now called Matarea, about ten miles beyond Cairo; that the inhabitants constantly burn a lamp in remembrance of it; and that there is a garden of trees yielding a balsam, which were planted by Christ when a boy. M. La Crosse cites a synod at Angamala, in the Mountain of Malabar, A. D. 1599, which shows this Gospel was commonly read by the Nestorians in the country. Ahmed Ibu Idris, a Mahometan divine, says, it was used by some Christians in common with the other four Gospels; and Ocobius de Castro mentions a Gospel of Thomas, which he says, he saw and had translated to him by an Armenian Archbishop at Amsterdam, that was read in very many churches of Asia and Africa, as the only rule of their faith. Fabricius takes it to be this Gospel. It has been supposed, that Mahomet and his coadjutors used it in compiling the Koran. There are several stories believed of Christ, proceeding from this Gospel; as that which Mr. Sike relates out of La Brosse's Persic Lexicon, that Christ practised the trade of a dyer, and his working a miracle with the colours; from whence the Persian dyers honour him as their patron, and call a dye-house the shop of Christ. Sir John Chardin mentions Persian legends concerning Christ's dispute with his schoolmaster about his ABC; and his lengthening the cedar-board which Joseph sawed too short.]

Note on the Miracles of Christ in the preceding Gospels.

A great void in the early life of the Saviour is filled up by these Gospels. In none of the Canonical Evangelists is any mention made of the childhood of Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, more rapidly than satisfactorily, pass over the period intervening between His birth and ministry. It is natural to suppose that the Infant Redeemer's earliest days were spent in the society of other young children, and it is quite consistent with every sincere Christians faith to believe that He had the power to perform the miracles here ascribed to him otherwise, a limit will be set to His divine attributes, doubts raised against His performance of the miracles related by the four Evangelists, in the authorised version of the Testament, and a denial given of the declaration therein, "With GOD nothing is impossible!"