The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-11-11

| their followers, Is alleged to be a PARTON
| Of an ancient manuscript sent by Pub
licus Lentellus, President Of Judea to
| the Senate Of Rome.
There lives at this time in Judea
man Of singular appearance, whose name
| is Jesus Christ The barbarians esteem
| him as their prophet, but his followers
adore him as their prophet, but his fol-
lowers adore him as the immediate Off
| spring Of God. He is endowed with such
unparalleled virtue as TO call back the
dead from their graves and to heal ev-
| cry kind of disease win a word or
| touch. His person is tall and elegantly
| shaped, his aspect amiaole and reverent;
| his hair flows in those beauteous shades
| which no united colors can match, fall
| ing in graceful curls below his ears,
| agreeably touching on his shoulders and
parting on the crown OF his head; MS
| dress, that Of the sect Of the NaZarites;
| his forehead is smooth and large. his
| cheeks without blemish and OF roSeate
| hue; his nose and mouth are formed
with exquisite symmetry; his beard is
thick and suitable to the hair Of his
head, reaching a little below the chin
eyes are clear, bright an serene.
He rebukes with mildness and in
vokes with the most tender and persafa-
sive of language, his whole dress. wheth-
er in word or deed being elegantly grave
| and strictly characteristic OF 50 exalted
| a being. No man has seen him laugh,
| but the whole world benolds him weep
| frequently, and so persuasive are MS
| tears that the whole multitude cannot
| withhold their tears from joining in SYM
| pathy with him. He is moderate, tenn
| perate, and wise; in short, whatever the
| phenomenon may turn out in the end, he
seems at present 10 be man Of excel
lent beauty and divine perfection, every
way surprising man."
OTHER APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
For the rest there are about fifty apo
cryphal gospels for Iozgkqjrmdlgwfyp
crypha1 gospels still extant, or at least
known to US. Some have come down to
our time entire, others only in frag-
ments, and of a few We possess nothing
but the names The methods employed
in these compositions is always the same
whether the author intended simply 20
collect and arrange what was floating
in the grand tradition or whether he in
tended to produce a definite dogmatic
effect. Rarely ne threw himself on his
own invention; but he general elaioor-
ated what was only limited at in the can
onical gospels, or Transcribed words of
Jesus into action, or described the literal
fulfilment Of some Jewish expectation
regarding the Messiah, or repeated the
words Of Jesus into actions, or described
the literal fulfillment of some Jewish ex-
pectations regarding the Messiah, or re-
peated the words of the Old Testament
in an enhanced form. The work done,
he took care to conceal his own name,
and inscribed his book with the name of
some apostle or disciple in order TO give
it authority.
Amid the wreck Of oblivion that has
overtaken so many of the masterpieces
of antiquity and even some of the gen.
uine gospel narratives Of Cnrist's dis
ciples, these poor literary inanities. these
weak and foolish outpourings of credul-
ity and mendacity are still destined 70
live and linger among us. They still
keep turning up among our ''unpublish-
ed manuscripts, they still engage the
interest of laborous scholars, can boast
of editors and commentators, and are
published and republished with all the
insignia OF care and scrupulosity, with
literary profgomena, with diversities of
readings and all the symbols that seem
to belong exclusively to the sacred doc
uments of which they are caricatures
and traversities.
From all aiike-from orthodox fathers,
from early historians. from Popes, from
councils, from Catholic divlnes and Pro-
testatant commentators - the same
amount of contempt and reprobation
has been expended on the the apocry-
phal gospels. and yet they live and
thrive and are perhaps now as much and
as curiously read as ever.
The whole vocabulary Of theological
ebhorrence has from the very early ages
OF the church been expended upon these
unfortunate compositions Individually
and collectively Now and then the tares
have been gathered into bundles, and
Pope Gelasius or Pope Damascus, or
some other champion Of orthodoxy, has
presided at some grand moral auto-da-
fe. At other times they have been dealt
with singly, and ont by one have suf-
fered every horror of truculent extirpa4-
tion of a knave, another as the delirious
imaginings OF a fool, another of a pesti-
lent hereto. and still fourth, accord
ing to the judgment OF Epiphanius. Of
the Father of Lies himself
Exactly what place will be given 10
the new discovery II is as yet too early
to determine.
HE SAYS NONSENSE
at Is nonsense" said DR.. William |
Hayes Ward, one Of the leading Bioli- |
cal scholars OF this country, when asked |
his views In relation 10 the reported find |
ing Of a parchment in the Vatican con- |
tanning Pilates report OF the crucifix- |
ion, with quotations from Christ's utter |
ances. You can place no reliance in |
such stories, nor in the dates or authen- |
ticity OF manuscripts that may be found. /
Musty parchments telling OF all sorts OF /
things are likely to be turned up at any .
time, for they are only too plentiful. as /
shown by the records OF aoocryphal /
writings that have been appearing from /
the second century down to our own 1
time.
There is no reason for believing that l
any report made by Plate on the cru
cifixion or events Connected with i, IS in
existence, or even copy OF any such 1
document. Yet We are hearing OF such
things every now and then, and there
is quite a large collections OF various
translations ot writings that are credit
al 10 PLATE. but there Is no reason 10
suppose that Plate had anything to
do with them, or that they had any ex-