Forbidden Gospels and Epistles, Complete

CHAPTER XV.

1 Je­sus and oth­er boys play to­geth­er, and make clay fig­ures of an­imals. 4 Je­sus caus­es them to walk, 6 al­so makes clay birds, which he caus­es to fly, and eat and drink. 7 The chil­dren’s par­ents alarmed, and take Je­sus for a sor­cer­er. 8 He goes to a dy­er’s shop, and throws all the cloths in­to the fur­nace, and works a mir­acle there­with. 15 Where­upon the Jews praise God.

AND when the Lord Je­sus was sev­en years of age, he was on a cer­tain day with oth­er boys his com­pan­ions about the same age;

2 Who, when they were at play, made clay in­to sev­er­al shapes, name­ly-​ass­es, ox­en, birds, and oth­er fig­ures;

3 Each boast­ing of his work, and en­deav­our­ing to ex­ceed the rest.

4 Then the Lord Je­sus said to the boys, I will com­mand these fig­ures which I have made to walk.

5 And im­me­di­ate­ly they moved, and when he com­mand­ed them to re­turn, they re­turned.

6 He had al­so made the fig­ures of birds and spar­rows, which, when he com­mand­ed to fly, did fly, and when he com­mand­ed to stand still, did stand still; and if he gave them meat and drink, they did eat and drink.

7 When at length the boys went away, and re­lat­ed these things to their par­ents, their fa­thers said to them, Take heed, chil­dren, for the fu­ture of his com­pa­ny, for he is a sor­cer­er; shun and avoid him, and from hence­forth nev­er play with him.

8 On a cer­tain day al­so, when the Lord Je­sus was play­ing with the boys, and run­ning about, he passed by a dy­er’s shop, whose name was Salem.

9 And there were in his shop many pieces of cloth be­long­ing to the peo­ple of that city, which they de­signed to dye of sev­er­al colours.

10 Then the Lord Je­sus go­ing in­to the dy­er’s shop, took all the cloths, and threw them in­to the fur­nace.

11 When Salem came home, and saw the cloths spoiled, he be­gan to make a great noise, and to chide the Lord Je­sus, say­ing,

12 What hast thou done to me, O thou son of Mary? Thou hast in­jured both me and my neigh­bours; they all de­sired their cloths of a prop­er colour; but thou hast come and spoiled them all.

13 The Lord Je­sus replied, I will change the colour of ev­ery cloth to what colour thou de­sirest.

14 And then he present­ly be­gan to take the cloths out of the fur­nace, and they were all dyed of those same colours which the dy­er de­sired.

15 And when the Jews saw this sur­pris­ing mir­acle, they praised God.

CHAP. XVI.

1 Christ mirac­ulous­ly widens or con­tracts the gates, milk pails, sieves, or box­es, not prop­er­ly made by Joseph, 4 he not be­ing skil­ful at his car­pen­ter’s trade. 5 The King of Jerusalem gives Joseph an or­der for a throne. 6 Joseph works on it for two years in the king’s palace, and makes it two spans too short. The king be­ing an­gry with him, 10 Je­sus com­forts him, 13 com­mands him to pull one side of the throne, while he pulls the oth­er, and brings it to its prop­er di­men­sions. 14 Where­upon the by­standers praise God.

AND Joseph, where­so­ev­er he went in the city, took the Lord Je­sus with him, where he was sent for to work to make gates, or milk-​pails, or sieves, or box­es; the Lord Je­sus was with him, where­so­ev­er be went.

2 And as of­ten as Joseph had any­thing in his work, to make longer, or short­er, or wider, or nar­row­er, the Lord Je­sus would stretch his hand to­wards it.

3 And present­ly it be­came as Joseph would have it:

4 So that he had no need to fin­ish any­thing with his own hands, for he was not very skil­ful at his car­pen­ter’s trade.

5 On a cer­tain time the King of Jerusalem sent for him, and said, I would have thee make me a throne of the same di­men­sions with that place in which I com­mon­ly sit.

6 Joseph obeyed, and forth­with be­gan the work, and con­tin­ued two years in the king’s palace be­fore he fin­ished it.

7 And when he came to fix it in its place, he found it want­ed two spans on each side of the ap­point­ed mes­sure.

8 Which when the king saw, he was very an­gry with Joseph;

9 And Joseph afraid of the king’s anger, went to bed with­out his sup­per, tak­ing not any thing to eat.

10 Then the Lord Je­sus asked him, What he was afraid of?

11 Joseph replied, Be­cause I have lost my labour in the work which I have been about these two years.

12 Je­sus said to him, Fear not, nei­ther be cast down;

13 Do thou lay hold on one side of the throne, and I will the oth­er, and we will bring it to its just di­men­sions.

14 And when Joseph had done as the Lord Je­sus said, and each of them had with strength drawn his side, the throne obeyed, and was brought to the prop­er di­men­sions of the place:

15 Which mir­acle when they who stood by saw, they were as­ton­ished, and praised God.

16 The throne was made of the same wood which was in be­ing in Solomon’s time, name­ly, wood adorned with var­ious shapes, and fig­ures.

CHAP. XVII.

1 Je­sus plays with boys at hide and seek. 3 Some wom­en put his playfel­lows in a fur­nace, 7 where they are trans­formed by Je­sus in­to kids. 10 Je­sus calls them to go and play, and they are re­stored to their for­mer shape.

ON an­oth­er day the Lord Je­sus go­ing out in­to the street, and see­ing some boys who were met to play, joined him­self to their com­pa­ny.

2 But when they saw him, they hid them­selves, and left him to seek for them;

3 The Lord Je­sus came to the gate of a cer­tain house, and asked some wom­en who were stand­ing there, Where the boys were gone?

4 And when they an­swered, That there was no one there; the Lord Je­sus said, Who are those whom ye see in the fur­nace?

5 They an­swered, They were kids of three years old.

6 Then Je­sus cried out aloud, and said, Come out hith­er, O ye kids, to your shep­herd;

7 And present­ly the boys came forth like kids, and leaped about him; which when the wom­en saw, they were ex­ceed­ing­ly amazed, and trem­bled,

8 Then they im­me­di­ate­ly wor­shipped, the Lord Je­sus, and be­seeched him, say­ing, O our Lord Je­sus, son of Mary, thou art tru­ly that good shep­herd of Is­rael! have mer­cy on thy hand­maids, who stand be­fore thee, who do not doubt, but that thou, O Lord, art come to save, and not to de­stroy.

9 Af­ter that, when the Lord Je­sus said, the chil­dren of Is­rael are like Ethiopi­ans among the peo­ple; the wom­en said, Thou, Lord, know­est all things, nor is any thing con­cealed from thee: but now we en­treat thee, and be­seech of thy mer­cy, that thou wouldest re­store those boys to their for­mer state.

10 Then Je­sus said, Come hith­er, O boys, that we may go and play; and im­me­di­ate­ly, in the pres­ence of these wom­en, the kids were changed, and re­turned in­to the shape of boys.