Forbidden Gospels and Epistles, Complete

CHAPTER III.

1 They be­tray Paul. 7 Thamyris ar­rests him with of­fi­cers.

THEN said Thamyris, Come along with me to my house, and re­fresh your­selves. So they went to a very splen­did en­ter­tain­ment, where there was wine in abun­dance, and very rich pro­vi­sion.

2 They were brought to a ta­ble rich­ly spread, and made to drink plen­ti­ful­ly by Thamyris, on ac­count of the love he had for The­cla and his de­sire to mar­ry her.

3 Then Thamyris said, I de­sire ye would in­form me what the doc­trines of this Paul are, that I may un­der­stand them; for I am un­der no small con­cern about The­cla, see­ing she so de­lights in that stranger’s dis­cours­es, that I am in dan­ger of los­ing my in­tend­ed wife.

4 Then De­mas and Her­mo­genes an­swered both to­geth­er, and said, Let him be brought be­fore the gov­er­nor Castel­lius, as one who en­deav­ours to per­suade the peo­ple in­to the new re­li­gion of the Chris­tians, and he, ac­cord­ing to the or­der of Cae­sar, will put him to death, by which means you will ob­tain your wife;

5 While we at the same time will teach her, that the res­ur­rec­tion which he speaks of is al­ready come, and con­sists in our hav­ing chil­dren; and that we then arose again, when we came to the knowl­edge of God.

6 Thamyris hav­ing this ac­count from them, was filled with hot re­sent­ment:

7 And ris­ing ear­ly in the morn­ing he went to the house of One­sipho­rus, at­tend­ed by the mag­is­trates, the Jailor, and a great mul­ti­tude of peo­ple with staves, and said to Paul;

8 Thou hast per­vert­ed the city of Ico­ni­um, and among the rest, The­cla, who is be­trothed to me, so that now she will not mar­ry me. Thou shalt there­fore go with us to the gov­er­nor Castel­lius.

9 And all the mul­ti­tude cried out, Away with this im­poster, for he has per­vert­ed the minds of our wives, and all the peo­ple hear­ken to him.