Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/100

xcvi to Christ by night to consult him, had ventured to speak for him in a moment of peril, and had taken part in his burial. Hence he is made a prominent character in the book. The Jewish author may have had another motive also, for the name of Nicodemus was borne by a personage famous in Jewish legends.

Why is it called the Acts of Pilate?

Pilate was believed to have written an account of the trial and sufferings of Jesus, which he sent to Rome. Justin and Tertullian confidently appeal to such a document, whether they had seen it or not. The immense value of a composition of the sort would also be evident. Hence the Nicodemus came to be called the Acts of Pilate, as representing similar transactions. That the composition we now have is the original of Pilate, none but a madman could believe. To me it is matter of simple amazement that any one should think our Acts of Pilate are in any sense derived from the materials of Pilate's report; and the more I study them the more I am convinced they are nothing but a forgery of the fifth and sixth centuries. Some of the materials are older, but some are not so ancient, although they