Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/94

xc bare testimony of Jesus, is an invention founded on incidents scattered over the Gospels. Pilate is represented as well acquainted with Jewish history, which is inconsistent with the general tone of the narrative (chapter ix.). The two malefactors crucified with Christ are called Dysmas and Gestas, which names are mere inventions. The Jews are represented as taking the law into their own hands in arresting and imprisoning Joseph of Arimathea. The guards of the tomb are represented as having been still there when the angel announced the resurrection to the women — a misunderstanding of Matth. xxviii. 11, which shows that the soldiers had left before the women arrived.

It is apparent that some time must be allowed to have elapsed between the events of chapters xiii. and xiv., because in the fourteenth chapter the ascension is recorded by men who had come out of Galilee. But the ascension took place near Bethany and not in Galilee. Mount Mamilk or Melek was thought to be in Galilee, and was confounded with Olivet, the traditional scene of the ascension. The writer who here quotes from Mark xvi. thus proves his ignorance of Jewish topography. Mount Melek was not in Galilee and was not Olivet, but was the hilly range