Forbidden Gospels and Epistles, Complete

CHAPTER V.

2 Mary min­is­tered un­to by an­gels. 4 The high priest or­ders all vir­gins of four­teen years old to quit the tem­ple and en­deav­our to be mar­ried. 5 Mary re­fus­es, 6 hav­ing vowed her vir­gin­ity to the Lord. 7 The high-​priest com­mands a meet­ing of the chief per­sons of Jerusalem, 11 who seek the Lord for coun­sel in the mat­ter. 13 A voice from the mer­cy-​seat. 15 The high-​priest obeys it by or­der­ing all the un­mar­ried men of the house of David to bring their rods to the al­tar, 17 that his rod which should flow­er, and on which the Spir­it of God should sit, should be­troth the Vir­gin.

BUT the Vir­gin of the Lord, as she ad­vanced in years, in­creased al­so in per­fec­tions, and ac­cord­ing to the say­ing of the Psalmist, her fa­ther and moth­er for­sook her, but the Lord took care of her.

2 For she ev­ery day had the con­ver­sa­tion of an­gels, and ev­ery day re­ceived vis­itors from God, which pre­served her from all sorts of evil, and caused her to abound with all good things;

3 So that when at length she ar­rived to her four­teenth year, as the wicked could not lay any thing to her charge wor­thy of re­proof, so all good per­sons, who were ac­quaint­ed with her, ad­mired her life and con­ver­sa­tion.

4 At that time the high-​priest made a pub­lic or­der, That all the vir­gins who had pub­lic set­tle­ments in the tem­ple, and were come to this age, should re­turn home, and, as they were now of a prop­er ma­tu­ri­ty, should, ac­cord­ing to the cus­tom of their coun­try, en­deav­our to be mar­ried.

5 To which com­mand, though all the oth­er vir­gins read­ily yield­ed obe­di­ence, Mary the Vir­gin of the Lord alone an­swered, that she could not com­ply with it,

6 As­sign­ing these rea­sons, that both she and her par­ents had de­vot­ed her to the ser­vice of the Lord; and be­sides, that she had vowed vir­gin­ity to the Lord, which vow she was re­solved nev­er to break through by ly­ing with a man.

7 The high-​priest be­ing here­by brought in­to a dif­fi­cul­ty,

8 See­ing he durst nei­ther on the one hand dis­solve the vow, and dis­obey the Scrip­ture, which says, Vow and pay,

9 Nor on the oth­er hand in­tro­duce a cus­tom, to which the peo­ple were strangers, com­mand­ed,

10 That at the ap­proach­ing feast all the prin­ci­pal per­sons both of Jerusalem and the neigh­bour­ing places should meet to­geth­er, that he might have their ad­vice, how he had best pro­ceed in so dif­fi­cult a case.

11 When they were ac­cord­ing­ly met, they unan­imous­ly agreed to seek the Lord, and ask coun­sel from him on this mat­ter.

12 And when they were all en­gaged in prayer, the high-​priest ac­cord­ing to the usu­al way, went to con­sult God.

13 And im­me­di­ate­ly there was a voice from the ark, and the mer­cy seat, which all present heard, that it must be en­quired or sought out by a prophe­cy of Isa­iah, to whom the Vir­gin should be giv­en and be be­trothed;

14 For Isa­iah saith, there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a flow­er shall spring out of its root,

15 And the Spir­it of the Lord shall rest up­on him, the Spir­it of Wis­dom and Un­der­stand­ing, the Spir­it of Coun­sel and Might, the Spir­it of Knowl­edge and Piety, and the Spir­it of the fear of the Lord shall fill him.

16 Then, ac­cord­ing to this prophe­cy, he ap­point­ed, that all the men of the house and fam­ily of David, who were mar­riage­able, and not mar­ried, should bring their sev­er­al rods to the al­tar,

17 And out of what­so­ev­er per­son’s rod af­ter it was brought, a flow­er should bud forth, and on the top of it the Spir­it of the Lord should sit in the ap­pear­ance of a dove, he should be the man to whom the Vir­gin should be giv­en and be be­trothed.