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REFERENCES TO THE FIRST GOSPEL OF
THE INFANCY OF JESUS CHRIST
[Mr. Henry Sike, Professor of Oriental Languages at Cambridge, first
translated and published this Gospel in 1697. It was received by the
Gnostics, a sect of Christians in the second century; and several of its
relations were credited in the following ages by other Christians, viz.,
Eusebius, Athanasius, Epiphanius; Chrysostom. &c. Sozomen says, he was
told by many, and he credits the relations, of the idols in Egypt falling
down on Joseph, and Mary's flight thither with Christ; and of Christ
making a well to wash his clothes in a sycamore-tree, from whence balsam
afterwards proceeded; which stories are from this Gospel. Chemnitius, out
of Stipulensis, who had it from Peter Martyr, Bishop of Alexandria, in
the third century, says, that the place in Egypt where Christ was
banished is now called Matarea, about ten miles beyond Cairo; that the
inhabitants constantly burn a lamp in remembrance of it; and that there
is a garden of trees yielding a balsam, which were planted by Christ when
a boy. M. La Crosse cites a synod at Angamala, in the Mountain of
Malabar, A. D. 1599, which shows this Gospel was commonly read by the
Nestorians in the country. Ahmed Ibu Idris, a Mahometan divine, says, it
was used by some Christians in common with the other four Gospels; and
Ocobius de Castro mentions a Gospel of Thomas, which he says, he saw and
had translated to him by an Armenian Archbishop at Amsterdam, that was
read in very many churches of Asia and Africa, as the only rule of their
faith. Fabricius takes it to be this Gospel. It has been supposed, that
Mahomet and his coadjutors used it in compiling the Koran. There are
several stories believed of Christ, proceeding from this Gospel; as that
which Mr. Sike relates out of La Brosse's Persic Lexicon, that Christ
practised the trade of a dyer, and his working a miracle with the
colours; from whence the Persian dyers honour him as their patron, and
call a dye-house the shop of Christ. Sir John Chardin mentions Persian
legends concerning Christ's dispute with his schoolmaster about his ABC;
and his lengthening the cedar-board which Joseph sawed too short.]
Note on the Miracles of Christ in the preceding Gospels.
A great void in the early life of the Saviour is filled up by these
Gospels. In none of the Canonical Evangelists is any mention made of the
childhood of Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, more
rapidly than satisfactorily, pass over the period intervening between His
birth and ministry. It is natural to suppose that the Infant Redeemer's
earliest days were spent in the society of other young children, and it
is quite consistent with every sincere Christians faith to believe that
He had the power to perform the miracles here ascribed to him otherwise,
a limit will be set to His divine attributes, doubts raised against His
performance of the miracles related by the four Evangelists, in the
authorised version of the Testament, and a denial given of the
declaration therein, "With GOD nothing is impossible!"