Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/439

Rh stould die? They say to him, Because he said that he is the Son of God and a King.

a certain man named Nicodemus, who was a Jew, stood before the governor and said, I beseech thee mercifully to bid me say a few words. Pilate saith to him, Say on. Nicodemus saith, I have said to the elders and priests and Levites and all the multitude of the Jews in the synagogue, What have ye to do with this man? This man doth many miracles and signs which no man hath done or can do. Dismiss him and do nothing evil against him. If the signs which he doeth are of God, they will stand, but if of men they will be brought to nought. For Moses also, when sent of God into Egypt, did many signs, which God commanded him to do before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And the evil-doers Jamnes and Mambres were there healing, and they also did the signs which Moses did, but not all of them, and the Egyptians esteemed them as gods, both Jamnes and Mambres. And because the signs which they did were not of God, both they themselves perished, and those who believed them. And now dismiss this man, for he is not worthy of death.

The Jews say to Nicodemus, Thou art become his disciple, and makest a plea for him. Nicodemus