Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/29

Rh the very grave, were diligently traced; the results of the imprecation of the Jews, "His blood be upon us, and upon our children," were in like manner chronicled. Ancient invention and industry went even further, and produced sundry scraps about Herod, Veronica, Lentulus, and Abgar, wrote epistles for Christ and his mother, and I know not how much besides. No difficulty stood in the way; ancient documents could easily be appealed to without necessarily existing; spirits could be summoned from the other world by a stroke of the pen, and be made to say anything; sacred names could be written and made a passport to fictions, and so on ad libitum.

We find among the most powerful impulses to which men yield, that which prompts them to the production of legends in connection with their religion. Illustrations are abundant, but I only mention Mahomedanism and Judaism, particularly the latter. The Jews have a form of literature called Agada, or Hagadah, which has been defined as a historical or theological essay on some Scripture character or fact, in a pleasant and an attractive form. The narration in the Hagadah may be fictitious; hence Rabbi Azariah is quoted as saying in Meor Ennaim, "The Hagadoth are historical pieces