The Republican journal., 1875-11-04
The Story Of the Wandering Jew.

nation or sect, who still believe in the
Wandering jew, the Undying One who
wanders century after century over the
earth's surface, yearning tor death that
never comes. Myths live long in the rus
tic mind after they have been discarded
by men OF the world and steady thinkers
This is one of them; and, like most of the
others, its origin is lost in obscurity, al
though traceable with much probability
to religious feeling, OF to a mistaken ap-
prehension of Scriptural passages.
Rich collections OF manuscripts have
been carefully examined by competent
men. to ascertain the most distant date to
which these legends OF myths can be trac-
ed. The oldest document at present known
on the subject was written about six hun
dred and fifty years ago, in the reign of
Henry I'LL. The Book Of the Chronicle of
ST. Adams abbey contains the following
narrative, as OF Il contemporary event ::
One day the patriarch or archbishop of
Armenia arrived at the abbey with a
small retin1e, including an Interpreter
! who could make the patriarch and the alb
bot Ineligible to each other. He had
visited most OF the celebrated shrines and
| holy places in England. and had now
come to see the shrine of St. Alban. Hos
! pitably entertained for many days. the
patriarch held much conversation with
the abbot and the monks He was asked,
amongst other things, whether he had
seen OF heard aught OF Joseph, mysteri-
Gus being who was reputed to have lived
ever Since the early days Of Christianity
The Patriarch replied that he had not only
heard OF this undying one but had been
visited by him in Armenia The story told
| by the Wanderer was u solemn ore. On
the day OF the CruciliXion. CasCaphilus
| (Another name borne by Joseph a port
er In pOntlus Pilates house, struck Jesus
on the back with his hand, and bad4 him
mockngly to move on more quickly. A
severe but mysterious rcproof was admin
lstered to him in reply: 81 am going, and
you Will wait till my return" Castaphiius
lived on century after century, apparent
| ly no older than ut first lie became q
holy and religious man, narrating to bish-
| ops and diVlnes events which lie had wit
messed III the apostolic days. He was al
ways serious, accepted nothing but food
and ralmcnt from his entertainers, and
7 looked out anXiously for the last day
Search appears to have been made in
vain for any mention of the Wanderer dur
! ing the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries :;
but quite early in the sixteenth we hear of
y Wandering jew who assisted a weaver,
named kokot, to discover in Bohemia 4
| treasure which an ancestor of the weaver
was reported to have hidden The Jew is
described as appearing like 4 man seventy
years OF age
a few years afterwards the scene shifts,
and according to another legend the Stran-
ger makes his appearance in Arabia
When the city Of Elvan was captured, Fad
hilah and three hundred horsemcn pitch
ed their tents in the evening between the
mountains. When repeating his prayer
to Allah and Mohammed, Fadhilah heard
all his words echoed Demanding who
was doing this, Fadhilah saw approach
ing him venerable man like a dervish,
with staff in hand The stranger stated
that he came by command of Jesus, who
had LETT him to live upon earth till the sec
ond advent 50 far the legend; why the
apparition appeared to follower of Islam
is not made clear
About the middle Of the same century
the Wandering jew cropped mp in Ham
burg Bishop Eitzcn narrated that, when
, % young n,,u, lac at ~ oilul,il i'll tllot
city y tall barefoot pilgrim, with hair
hanging over his shoulders standing OPP
positc to the pulpit, listening intently to
the sermon. sorrowtuly and signing, and
often Smitng his breast. 4 rum0r spread
that he was the same mysterious person
that had recently been seen in England
France, italy, Hungary, Persia, Srain
Poland, Muscovy, Lapland, Sweden, Den
mark and scotland. Bishop Eitzen sought
him out, and asked him many questions.
/ The Straurar rpnlipl that Ne was n low
AhasueruS by name, a shoemaker at Je-
rusalemi that ne had been present at the
cfuclllNloh lhitt ne had IlVeu ever since
travelling IN various parts OF the world.
| Questioned turtAef, he declared that he
had regarded Jesus as deceiver and a
| hereto, whom ne helped TO bring to JUS
tee; thlt Jesus, on passing TO the place
OF cfnclINloh. stood II moment to rest at
| tht ahoellilhHt "o"r, p"rHc doWh py the
weight OF tlie cross that the reprooi came
| 70 MN, - NhaIl Stand and rest, but thou
shalt go to the Last Day that after wit
Messing tIie cfuciilNloh' ne was struck
| with lorbod!nS lhat he would never see
| his home again, but would wander from
country to country rs mourniul pilgrim
Returning to Jerusalem many ages after
wards, he found its buildings razed to the
Slotiu'l, lh9oiiitt'h II tl''o ilG cottlu ItCoSlIIe
none OF the localities again and he regard
ed this as q judgment on-hlm tor his mis-
conduct. lhc nlshop, to test him, queS-
toned him concerning historical events
which had occurred IN Europe during lli-
teen centuries, aud 1--WE are asSured) re-
ceived satisfactory answers. lie was alb
stenllous and humble, silent until ques-
toned, ana never tured long IN one
place. lie spoke the languages OF all the
countries he VlSIied, and-so ends Bishop
Eltzen'S narratiEe
Two papal ENJOYS, sent to Spain about
the tihe OF the spanish Armada, declared
on their return that they had seen the
Wandering jew NJ Madrid, and that he
spoke as good spanish as he had before
spoken good German at Hamburg. An
other fylng Fumor located hlm Tor time
at Vienna.
France was not likely TO be without
| something to say concerning TINS meXpl-