The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-03-29

his wife Procula saw the angel coming
/ and receiving his head, she also, being
/ filled with joy, forthwith gave up the
! ghost, and was buried with her husband"
Another group of legends is very diff
ferent. One is that Plate possessed the
+, seamless robe of Jesus, and that while
! ne wore this, the emperor could not con-
! denim him to death, however often he
/ tried to do SO. He therefore condemned
him to perpetual imprisonment, and then
Plate stabbed himself with a dagger.
His body was attached to huge stone
and flung into the river, where the dem
ons contended for it, and raised such
/ frightful storms, that the Romans took
/ 1t TO Nienne and sunk it in the Rhone.
It-was thence moved to Losania (Which
seems to be meant for Lucerne) and was
flung into mountain pool. 1t is only in
living memory that Swiss cure by &C
tual experiment overthrow the local SUI
perStition that if any one threw a stone
into that dark tarn terrible storms would
arise; and till recent times the peasants
believed that the ghostly form of Plate
was often seen lowering about the noun
tain, and washing its hands with a dis
contented air. All this localiZation of the
legend, is however, due only to the
mythology of misinterpreted language.
Mount PLATE has no connection with the
unhappy procurator. "Pilate" is here only
a corruption of Pileatus, or the mountain
that wears the cap (pileum) of clouds.
l have no space for the many legends
about Joseph of Arimathea, or various
I
corded in the gospels. L must, however,
mention the stories of Christ's descent
to the underworld so familiar from such
pictures as those of Fra Angelica, AL
brecht Durer, and Bronzino.
LEGENDS OF THE DESCENT.
We read in the gospel of Nicodemus
that while all the saints were rejoicing
over the promised resurrection, Satan the
inheritor of darkness, came and said to
Hades: "All devouring and insatiate one,
hear my words. One who calls himself
the Son of God has just been crucifled;
but L know him to be a man, for heard
him say, My soul is very sorrowful unto
death. Keep him safe, he has done me
much evil"
rs he so powerful?'' said Hades. Then
woe, woe unto theei''
Art thou so afraid, all devouring and
insatiate Hades?" said Satan. Il got him
crucified; do thou hold him firmly
'1nheritor Of darkness, son of perdi-
ton, Devil, son of Hades, do not bring
him hither; for he raised Lazarus, and
IL thou bringeSt him hither none of the
dead will be left to me-
While they were talking, voice as of
thunder cried, Lift up your heads we
gates, and the King of Glory shall come
Hades said TO his demons. Secure firmly
the brazen gates, and the iron bars
Therefore all the saints and patriarchs
began to taunt and reproach Hades, say
ing, Where is thy sting, death? Where
is thy victory, o Hades?'
Then the voice came again, Lift up
your heads. o we gates. and the King
of Glory shall come in who is this
King of Glory?" asked Hades; and all
the archangeIs and angels answered,
1.-THE Lord strong and mighty; the Lord
mighty in battle" Instantly the gates
were burst, and the iron bars crushed,
and Satan was bound by the head, and
delivered to the angels and consigned to
the custody of Hades till the Second Adj
vent. But Christ took Adam by the
hand and raised him: and. Adam kissed
His hands and feet. Then, turning to the
rest, Christ said. Come with me all ye
who died through the tree which he
touched. For behold 1 raise you all up
again through the tree of the cross"
Then the whole rejoicing throng entered
Paradise, where Enoch and Elijah met
them, and they were joined by the cru
cited repentant robber who bore a cross
upon his shoulders.
The story is supposed to be told by the
two sons of Simeon, Karinus and Leu
cius who have been suffered to see these
things, that they may be then raised
from the dead for the purpose of mar
rating them to the world.