Weekly Trinity journal., 1875-01-02
Weaverville, January 2, 1875.
THE WANDERING JEW.

Of this neverdying, wandering, apparent
ly mythical person originated.
And yet may not there have have been
foundation in reality for the story?
Is it as improbable that as the Saviour
was being dragged forth from the judg
ment seat of PLATE, that a porter of the
hall, named Cartaphilus, should haveim-
piously struck him on the back with rude
hand, and said:
"Go quicker, Jesus; why dost thou
loiter ?"
And that the Master should have turned
upon him his sorrowlul eyes and an
swered:
81 am going; but thou shalt wait till
my return"
Or is the more common story in the
least improbable, which tells how, when
Jesus was being led to execution, bearing
the heavy weight of his cross, he tried to
rest little at the door Of Ahasuerus, the
shoemaker. And how Ahasuerus, in the
hardness Of his hear! and in the blindness
| of his zeal, smote him and urged him for
ward, the Saviour replying:
81 shall stand and rest, but thou shalt
travel onward till the last day"
1t does not seem in the least improba-
BILE that such incidents should have oc
cured.
And as these incidents came afterward.
to be related among the crowds Of terven
believers, that the tradition should grow
up that the offending porter or shoemakel
was still alive, wandering up and down
seeking rest and finding none-and shoult
so wander until the second appearance o
the triumphant Lord.
And what more natural in the supersti
ton and darkness of the middle ages
than the sight of an old, wandering man
with long beard and and pilgrim staff, t.
bring to mind the legend, and cause the
credulous crowd 30 query with one another
whether that could be Ahasueras or Car.
taphilus ?
An Archbishop Of Armenia, who came
on pilgrimage to England in l22S, aver
red through an interpreter that he knew
Cartaphilus, who had been converted tc
Christianity, and baptized by Ananias
under the name of Joscph-and had ma
ny conversations with him. He dwelt in
Armenia, had become devout and godly
man, and frequently related the events
that occurred at the crucifxion. At that
time he was thirty years Of age; and when
he attained the age of hundred years
he always raturned to the age of thirty.
In l547, the Wandering jew himself
but not the one described by the Arch
bishop Of Armenia-is said to have beer
seen in Hamburg by Doctor Paul Vol
Schleswig. This was Ahasueras, tn,
shoemaker.
But, according to the records there i
scarcely a country i'll Europe which ha
not an account of being visited at som,
time by the Wandering jew. The las
period Of his appearance in England wa
the latter part of the seventeenth century
Those who heard him were perplexed b,
his familiarity with foreign tongues ant
places. Oxford and Cambridge professor
sent to detect him as an impostor, wcr
puzzled by him. An English noblemal
is said to have conversed with him in Al
able. He told the nobema9-what seem
very probable the historical worl,
in that language were not to be relied up
on. He might have gone further an
said that the historical works in all othe
languages, but we suppose he meant t
speak by the card, and had especia
knowledge Of Arabia. He had know
Mahomet, and considered him an intelli
Z gent man. Once, when the Prophet de
, MED that Christ had been crucifed, ht
checked him abruptly, telling him he wa
mistaken, for he himself had been an eye
witness Of that event. lie also had known
Tamerlane and Saadin, and could giv'
minute details of the Crusaders. Afte
he left London, he appeared in Denmark
and then in Sweden, and then he vanished