Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/414

298 priests cried unto the people, We know that Jesus had both father and mother; how shall we believe that he is the Christ? One of the Levites answered and said, I know the family of Jesus, honest men, greatly addicted to the service of God, and receiving tithes of the people of the Jews. And I also know Simeon, the old man, that he took him when he was a babe, and said to him, Now lettest thou thy servant depart, O Lord.

The Jews said, Let us find the three men who saw him at the mount of Olives, that we may ask them and learn the truth more accurately. And they found and brought them before all, and made them swear to tell the truth. And they said, As the God of Israel liveth, we saw Jesus at the mount of Olives, alive, and ascending into heaven.

Then Annas and Caiaphas separated the three from one another, and asked them privately and singly. They agreed therefore in their speech, and the three spoke the same thing. The chief priests answered and said, Our scripture saith that every word shall be established with two or three witnesses. Joseph therefore hath confessed that he performed his funeral rites, and buried him, along with Nicodemus, and how it is the truth that he hath risen.