Forbidden Gospels and Epistles, Complete

CHAPTER VIII.

1 Joseph and Mary pass through a coun­try in­fest­ed by rob­bers. 3 Ti­tus a hu­mane thief, of­fers Du­machus, his com­rade, forty groats to let Joseph and Mary pass un­mo­lest­ed. 6 Je­sus prophe­cies that the thieves Du­machus and Ti­tus shall be cru­ci­fied with him and that Ti­tus shall go be­fore him in­to par­adise. 10 Christ caus­es a well to spring from a sycamore tree, and Mary wash­es his coat in it. 11 A bal­sam grows there from his sweat. They go to Mem­phis, where Christ works more mir­acles. Re­turn to Judea. 15 Be­ing warned, de­part for Nazareth.

IN their jour­ney from hence they came in­to a desert coun­try and were told it was in­fest­ed with rob­bers; so Joseph and St. Mary pre­pared to pass through it in the night.

2 And as they were go­ing along, be­hold they saw two rob­bers asleep in the road, and with them a great num­ber of rob­bers, who were their con­fed­er­ates, al­so asleep.

3 The names of these two were Ti­tus and Du­machus; and Ti­tus said to Du­machus, I be­seech thee let these per­sons go along qui­et­ly, that our com­pa­ny may not per­ceive any­thing of them.

4 But Damachus re­fus­ing, Ti­tus again said, I will give thee forty groats, and as a pledge take my gir­dle, which he gave him be­fore he had done speak­ing, that he might not open his mouth or make a noise.

5 When the La­dy St. Mary saw the kind­ness which this rob­ber did shew them, she said to him, The Lord God will re­ceive thee to his right hand and grant thee par­don of thy sins.

6 Then the Lord Je­sus an­swered, and said to his moth­er, When thir­ty years are ex­pired, O moth­er, the Jews will cru­ci­fy me at Jerusalem;

7 And these two thieves shall be with me at the same time up­on the cross, Ti­tus on my right hand, and Du­machus on my left, and from that time Ti­tus shall go be­fore me in­to par­adise;

8 And when she had said, God for­bid this should be thy lot, O my son, they went on to a city in which were sev­er­al idols; which, as soon as they came near to it, was turned in­to hills of sand.

9 Hence they went to that sycamore tree, which is now called Matarea.

10 And in Materea the Lord Je­sus caused a well to spring forth, in which St. Mary washed his coat;

11 And a bal­sam is pro­duced, or grows, in that coun­try, from the sweat which ran down there from the Lord Je­sus.

12 Thence they pro­ceed­ed to Mem­phis, and saw Pharoah, and abode three years in Egypt.

13 And the Lord Je­sus did very many mir­acles, in Egypt, which are nei­ther to be found in Gospel of the In­fan­cy nor in the Gospel of Per­fec­tion.

14 At the end of three years he re­turned out of Egypt, and when he came near to Judea, Joseph was afraid to en­ter;

15 For hear­ing that Herod was dead, and that Archelaus his son reigned in his stead, he was afraid.

16 And when he went to Judea, an, an­gel of God ap­peard to him, and said, O Joseph go in­to the city of Nazareth, and abide there.

17 It is strange in­deed, that he, who is the Lord of all coun­tries, should be thus car­ried back­ward and for­ward, through so many coun­tries.