Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/72

lxviii In the Hebrew of this confession the sins are arranged in alphabetical order, from the first letter to the last. There are other forms in use among the Jews to which attention might also be directed. The reference to the 'fiery sea' in chap. xxvi. may remind us of Rev. xix. 20; xx. 14, or of purgatory in a modified form, but it also recalls the Jewish opinion thus stated by a certain Rabbi Leo, "The souls of the wicked are tortured with fire and other punishments, which some of the condemned suffer with no hope of redemption, but others for a certain time." The author from whom I take this extract, says the deliverance of those who are freed, is expected at the end of twelve months. After all, the passage p. 121, may not mean an intermediate state, but the judgment itself, as, St. Paul, in 1 Cor. iii. 15.

carrying out my purpose to translate the whole of the false Gospels published by Dr. Tischendorf, I have translated all three of the recensions of Thomas which he has printed. That nothing might