JACOB'S DEATH AND BURIAL.
Jacob now having finished his last stage,
And come to the end of earthly pilgrimage.
Was visited by his son Joseph, who
Brought with him Ephraim and Manassah too.
When Jacob saw them, who are these said he?
The sons said Joseph, God has given me
Then Jacob blest them both, and his sons did call,
To shew to each what should to them befal.
Then giving orders unto Joseph where
He would be buried, left to him that care;
Then yielded up the ghost upon his bed
And to his people he was gathered.
Then Joseph for his burial did provide,
And with a numerous retinue did ride,
Of his own children and Egyptians too,
That their respect to Joseph might shew,
And with a mighty mourning did inter
Old Jacob in his fathers sepulchre.
FINIS.
THE HOLY DISCIPLE;
OR, THE
History of Joseph of Arimathea.
Wherein is contained a true Account of his Birth; his Parents; his Country; his Education; his Piety; and his begging of Pontius Pilate the Body of our blessed Saviour, after his Crucifixion, which he buried in a new Sepulchre of his own. Also the Occasion of his coming to England, where he first preached the Gospel at Glastenbury, in Somersetshire, where is still growing that noted White Thorn which buds every Christmas day in the morning, blossoms at Noon, and fades at Night, on the Place where he pitched his Staff in the Ground. With a full Relation of his Death and Burial.
TO WHICH IS ADED,
Meditations on the Birth, Life, Death, and
Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ.
Newcastle: Printed in this present Year.
THE HOLY DISCIPLE;
OR, THE
HISTORY OF JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA.
The text of this book is simply an amplification of the title-page, which is sufficient for its purpose in this work. The legend of his planting his staff, which produced the famous Glastonbury Thorn, is very popular and widespread. The writer remembers in the winter of 1879, when living in Herefordshire, on Old Christmas Day (Twelfth Day), people coming from some distance to see one of these trees blossom at noon. Unfortunately they were disappointed. Loudon, in his "Arboretum Britannicum," v. 2, p. 833, says, "Cratægus præcox, the early flowering, or Glastonbury, Thorn, comes into leaf in January or February, and sometimes even in autumn; so that occasionally, in mild seasons, it may be in flower on Christmas Day. According to Withering, writing about fifty years ago, this tree does not grow within the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, but stands in a lane beyond the churchyard, and appears to be a very old tree. An old woman of ninety never remembered it otherwise than it now appears. This tree is probably now dead; but one said to be a descendant of the tree which, according to the Romish legend, formed the staff of Joseph of Arimathea, is still existing within the precincts of the ancient abbey of Glastonbury. It is not of great age, and may probably have sprung from the root of the original tree, or from a truncheon of it; but it maintains the habit of flowering in the winter, which the legend attributes to its supposed parent. A correspondent (Mr. Callow) sent us on December 1, 1833, a specimen, gathered on that day, from the tree at Glastonbury, in full blossom, having on it also ripe fruit; observing that the tree blossoms again in the month of May following, and that it is from these later flowers that the fruit is produced. Mr. Baxter, curator of the Botanic Garden at Oxford, also sent us a specimen of the Glastonbury Thorn, gathered in that garden on Christmas Day, 1834, with fully expanded flowers and ripe fruit on the same branch. Seeds of this variety are said to produce only the common hawthorn; but we have no doubt that among a number of seedlings there would, as in similar cases, be found several plants having a tendency to the same habits as the parent. With regard to the legend, there is nothing miraculous in the circumstances of a staff, supposing it to have been of hawthorn, having, when stuck in the ground, taken root and become a tree; as it is well known that the hawthorn grows from stakes and truncheons. The miracle of Joseph of Arimathea is nothing compared with that of Mr. John Wallis, timber surveyor of Chelsea, author of 'Dendrology,' who exhibited to the Horticultural and Linnæan Societies, in 1834, a branch of hawthorn, which, he said, had hung for several years in a hedge among other trees; and, though without any root, or even touching the earth, had produced, every year, leaves, flowers, and fruit!"
Of St. Joseph himself, Alban Butler gives a very meagre account, not even mentioning his death or place of burial; so that, outside Glastonbury, we may infer he had small reputation. We must not, however, forget that he is supposed to have brought the Holy Grail into England.
Wynkyn de Worde printed a book called "The Life of Joseph of Armathy," and Pynson printed two—one "De Sancto Joseph ab Arimathia," 1516, and "The Lyfe of Joseph of Arimathia," 1520.
THE
WANDERING JEW;
OR, THE
SHOEMAKER OF JERUSALEM.
Who lived when our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ was Crucified,
And by Him Appointed to Wander until He comes again.
With his Travels, Method of Living, and a
Discourse with some Clergymen about
the End of the World.
Printed and Sold in Aldermary Church-Yard, Bow Lane, London.