Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/93

Rh character, except so far as they have been modified to suit the convenience of the author. At the same time the book was written by one who had never been in Judæa, and who was ill informed in regard to its topography especially; he was not even careful to follow the hints supplied him by the New Testament. I will now point out a few details which seem to require a particular remark.

The accusation of the Jews that Jesus wrought miracles by magical and diabolical agency is, it is true, in accordance with what we read in the Gospels, but then we do not find them recorded in connection with His trial. Pilate's assertion that unclean spirits could only be cast out by Esculapius is also open to question, as I find no trace of such an opinion among the Romans. Esculapius was simply the god of healing: but how about demoniacal possession, and his province in relation to it?

The prodigies connected with the summoning of Jesus before Pilate are fictions which appear to be peculiar to this story. The calumny that Jesus was illegitimate finds no place in the account of the trial as recorded in the four Gospels. The assertion of the Jews that they had a law forbidding them to take an oath is a fiction. The series of witnesses, who