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    mand those figures wliich I have made to walk , ' and immediately they moved ; and when he commanded them to return , they returned . He had also made figures of birds and sparrows , which

    when he commanded to ny , they did fly , and which when he commanded to stand still , they stood still ; and if he gave them meat and drink , they did eat and drink . When , at length , the boys went away and related these things to their friends , they said , * Take heed , children , for the future , for he is a sorcerer : shun and avoid him / " It was not unusual to express the different descriptions of men by the different descriptions of animals , oxen , birds , fishes , &c . ; and the foundation of the above fiction is , that those who believed in Christ , and lived in obedience to his commands , received a new life and became new creatures . " Christ / ' says Clement of Alexandria , Vol . I . p . 4 , " is the only one among all that we have heard that humanizes into men the fiercest

    beasts , the frivolous being mere birds , the deceiving reptiles , the irascible lions , the voluptuous pigs , and the ignorant stones and logs of wood . " The resurrection of Lazarus , and the interview which Jesus had with his

    two sisters , are seemingly the foundation of the following fiction : Chap , xx . &c . : " As Jesus and his mother were travel ] ing , they met three women ( viz . two sisters and an attendant ) coming from a certain grave with great weeping . Being introduced into their

    house they find in the parlour a very handsome youth , covered over with silk , and an ebony collar hanging down from his neck , whom they kissed and were feeding . They then informed the divine Mary that ' this mule was our brother , which some women by

    witchcraft had brought into the condition which you see ; we , therefore , entreat you to pity us / Thereupon the divine Mary was grieved at their case , and taking the Lord Jesus , and putting him upon the back of the mule , said

    to him , 'Oh , Jesus Christ , restore this mule , and grant to him again the shape of a man / This was scarcely said when the mule passed into a human form , and became a young man without any deformity /'

    These instances warrant us in concluding that the grounds of the miracles a&cribed to our Lordiu his infancy ,

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    are the miracles really done during his ministry ; and that the object of the author or authors was to bring these into discredit , by throwing over them

    the air of fable . This circumstance refers the composition of the work to those eafly impostors , contemporary with Christ and his apostles , who , professing to teach Christianity , formed an artful seheme to undermine it .

    The early fathers were acquainted with the contents of this book , and were exceedingly anxious to keep it a profound secret ; and Origen thus speaks of it : — " I know a certain Gospel according to Thomas and according to Matthias and many others : we read that we may not seem to be ignorant of any thing , for the sake of those who think they know something if they are acquainted with those Gospels . " It seems , then , that in the days of Origen there were those who boasted they knew something after becoming acquainted with the " Gospel of the Infancy / ' or as it has been otherwise called , according to Thomas — that something which was known to some , and known to Origen amongst the number , will turn out to be , that the

    introductory chapters to the Gospel of Matthew were really taken from it . For two or three centuries this spurious Gospel was , I repeat , kept a profound secret till Jerome ventured to give the public a I / atin translation of it at the advice of two bishops , Chromatius and Heliodorus . His reply to their request to have this book translated is most

    worthy of notice , and is in part to this effect : " An arduous task is imposed upon me , since your holiness commands me to translate a book which the holy Matthew himself , an Apostle and an Evangelist , was

    unwilling to make public . For if this were not to be kept secret , he would have prefixed it to the Gospel which he has published ; but this little book he has composed in Hebrew characters , and delivered it up thus sealed to the public , in order that a work written in

    Hebrew letters might be possessed by such as are most religious , who , from their own times , should hand it down to posterity through successive ages /* In my next letter I will shew that the contents of the first two chapters ascribed to Matthew are taken from the book which we here see imputed to that Evangelist . JOHN JONES ,

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    344 Dr . J . Jon e * on the Gospel of " The Infancy of Jesus . "

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1821, page 344, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2501/page/20/