Divinity Library

YALE
DIVINITY SCHOOL
LIBRARY

Gift of
Dean Emeritus
Luther A. Weigle

FOUR HITHERTO
UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
WILLIAM E. BARTON

FOUR HITHERTO
UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
A SERIES OF CHAEACTEE STUDIES CAST
IN THE FORM OF PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF
JOHN the Baptist, ANDREW the Brother
of Simon Peter, JUDAS ISCARIOT,
JAMES the Brother of Jesus
BY
WILLIAM E. BARTON
Author of "Tbe Soul of Abraham Lincoln," "The
Paternity of Abraham Lincoln,'4 "Jesus of
Nazareth; His Life and the Land He
Lived In," "The Psalms and
Their Story," etc.

NEW ^SJT YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
rale Divinity Library
New Havsru Cana.

ps-*n B2-8S-f

COPYRIGHT, 1920,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO
WILLIAM GOODELL FROST
FOR MANY YEARS PRESIDENT
OF BEKEA COLLEGE
*WHO BY A LIFE OF HEEOIC DEVOTION
TO A GEEAT CAUSE HAS NOBLY
SERVED HIS GENERATION

PREFACE
THE impulse to write narrative accounts of
the life and ministry of Jesus came rather
late into the history of New Testament com
position. The first books written were letters,
-called out by particular emergencies, and were
preserved by reason of the practical wisdom of
the advice given by the apostolic authors. Some
of the later letters assumed' a more formal
character, and one or two of them, like Romans
and Hebrews, evolved into doctrinal treatises
in epistolary form. After a time there were
compiled little collections of detached "say
ings" of Jesus, which later were followed by
attempts to tell the story of his life. By the
time the Gospel according to Luke was written,
many had "taken in hand" to give account of
the life of Jesus. Of these early narratives,
four have been preserved. We have good rea
son to believe that these are. much the best
of the attempts to tell the story of Jesus. Such
apocryphal gospels as have come down to us
either entire or in fragments give us little oc
casion to regret the loss of the others.

PREFACE
Nevertheless, it is undeniable that there were
other men who knew Jesus, some of whom were
members of the apostolic group, who, if they
had written of the life and ministry of Jesus
as they saw it, would have told us some things
which the four Gospels have omitted, just as
each of our four gospels contains something
which is omitted by all three of the others,
and we have no reason to doubt that they would
have done this truthfully and that, whether
such books ever became a part of the New
Testament or not, they would have had genuine
value for us.
In the following chapters no considerable
attempt is made to reconstruct incidents which
the Gospels do not record, or to imagine scenes
which these men witnessed in which the others
did not have a share. Such a literary method
would involve more of modern imagination than
se,ems profitable. But it is in order to recall
the events in which we know these particular
men participated and to endeavour to discover
how they would have appeared in their eyes.
Such a method cannot seem irreverent, and it
may be pursued with profit. Our four Gospels
might have been eight or twelve; each of the
apostles might have written one; and so might
others who like Mark and Luke had never been
apostles.

PREFACE
These four narratives make no pretence of
antiquity. They are a modern attempt to 'dis
cover what kind of side-light would have been
cast upon the ministry of Jesus if four other
men, besides the four who have told us of Him,
had written brief stories of what they saw and
thought about Jesus. For most that these con
tain, the Four Gospels themselves are our au
thority; but the material is given a somewhat
different emphasis when we attempt to view it
successively through the eyes of John the Bap
tist, James the brother of Jesus, Judas Iscariot,
and Andrew the brother of Simon Peter.
If anyone finds himself disposed to criticise
the application of the term "Gospel" to these
quasi autobiographical sketches, I shall be the
first to admit the justice of the criticism. If
a "gospel" be an attempt to tell the whole story
of the life of Jesus, these are not gospels, but
personal reminiscences. But we have .come to
use the word "gospel" in a special sense which
may perhaps be sufficiently elastic to cover these
narratives. The use of the word "gospel" to
describe any narrative is an accommodation of
language. Gospel is "good news" and the term
is used in the New Testament strictly in this
sense. Paul rejoiced when Timothy arrived in
Corinth and "preached the gospel" that the
people of Thessalonica were steadfast in their

PREFACE
faith and in their affection for him (I Thes-
3:6). But we have come to use the term in the
technical sense of an account of the life of
Jesus, though the titles, as everyone knows, are
simply "According to Matthew," "According
to Mark," and so on. The term gospel is con
venient for this purpose, and the present use:
of it is no violent departure from established.
usage. These four narratives differ only in form
and not in their essential method from ordinary
forms of Bible study. Their chief point of
difference is the use of the first person instead
of the third. All the inquiry as to motive and
mental attitude which these studies undertake
has to be undertaken in any intelligent attempt-
to interpret the Gospel narratives. But the use
of the first person has this literary and practical
advantage, that it assists the process of psy
chological analysis; it causes us to inquire not
so much how these four men appeared, as how
events which they witnessed appeared to them.
This is not only a legitimate but a useful method.
of study. The Bible is rich in biographical'
material; we use it too little and with unneces
sary restrictions as to method and form. Any
method of study which reminds us that the
apostles were real men, and acted upon motives
x

PREFACE
such as are common to the experience of men,
is useful and to be desired.
This series of studies was delivered during
the Lenten period of 1920 in the author's own/
church, and met with favor there.
The Scripture text used is that of the scholarly
and suggestive translation of Dr. Moffatt. I
acknowledge his courtesy and that of the pub
lishers, George H. Doran Company, for its use.
W. E. B.
First Church Study,
Oak Park, Illinois.
Easter, 1920.

xl

CONTENTS
PASE
General Introduction  17
I
The Gospel According to JOHN THE BAPTIST . 35
II
The Gospel According to ANDREW  65
III
The Gospel According to JUDAS ISCARIOT . . 93
IV
The Gospel According to JAMES THE BROTHER
OF JESUS  121

XIU

FOUR HITHERTO
UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS

FOUR HITHERTO
UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
IT will assist in the interpretation of the fol
lowing chapters if we remind ourselves of
the known facts and accepted or reasonably
probable traditions concerning the four men
whose reminiscences are imagined to be con
tained in the four succeeding narratives. It
will be remembered that, with the exception of
John the Baptist, we have no knowledge of any
of the associates of Jesus prior to their coming
to Him, except as the narratives of the four
Gospels give us intimations of residence, occu
pation, name of father, and other incidental
information; and that for knowledge of them
after the close of the Gospels we have no cer
tain information outside the Epistles and the
Book of Acts, which is devoted almost exclu
sively to the work of Peter and Paul'. The
traditions that have been preserved are of
variable reliability. In some cases they ap-
17

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
pear to carry a reasonable certainty, and in
others they are almost certainly incorrect. Each
of the four narratives has prefaced to it a
selection of Scripture selections, giving some
of the chief incidents in which these men re
spectively had a share ; these do not undertake
to give all the New Testament allusions^ but the
additional ones can easily be found by any in
terested student. For the ordinary reader they
are sufficient. I deem it wise in addition to
give these paragraphs of introduction to each
of the four documents, and to assemble them
in this general introduction in order to avoid
needless breaks in the continuity of the main
part of this little volume.
JOHN THE BAPTIST
JOHN THE BAPTIST was the eldest son
arid probably the only child of Zachariah,
a priest, and Elizabeth, his wife. Elizabeth
was a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
They were not only cousins but friends, and
Mary spent three months with Elizabeth' dur
ing the period that preceded the birth of their
respective children. John is supposed to have
been about six months older than Jesus and died
about a year and a half before the crucifixion
of Jesus, when John was in his thirty-second
year. 18

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Our knowledge of the birth and childhood
of John is Contained in a single narrative, that
of Luke, and belongs to that group of feminine
traditions which is peculiar to the third Gospel.
This narrative tells us that John was a child
of promise and was born when his parents were
old. Their home was in a city of Judah, sup
posed to have been in the general region of
Bethlehem and Hebron. It is not named and
its precise location is not given. John was a
Nazarite from his birth, not cutting his hair
or beard or eating flesh or drinking wine. He
was not, however, a vegetarian. His diet con
sisted of locusts, insects that were gathered by
the natives of Judea, and parched, and served
with wild honey. John has frequently been
spoken of as belonging to the sect of the Es
senes. This is a mistake. Our knowledge of
this sect, the first form of monasticism organ
ised in the Mediterranean world, is meagre, but
we are sure John did not belong to this organ
isation, though it may have influenced him.
The Essenes lived in communities and abjured
private property and marriage. They were
strict vegetarians.
John was at home in Jerusalem, where the
family went regularly at the time of the exer
cise of Zachariah's priestly functions, but he
turned his back on the luxury of the city and
19

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
retired to the desert, where' he brooded on the
evils of his time and his ardent desire for the
coming of the kingdom of God. Living in the
wilderness of Judea near the Jordan, he began
to preach, and as he won converts he baptised
them after the manner of the Jews, who bap
tised their non-Jewish proselytes. The rite of
baptism as he exercised it was neither orthodox
Jewish baptism, for it was administered to
Jews, nor yet was it Christian 'baptism. It was
a kind of initiation into a new order of prose
lytes of righteousness.
Jesus came to John for baptism, thus en
rolling himself as one of John's disciples, and
John testified to Jesus as the Messiah, whom
he had predicted. They did not work long
together and their methods, which at the outset
appeared to be similar, developed wide diver
gence as the ministry of Jesus proceeded.
John came into conflict with Herod Antipas,
whom he rebuked for his adultery with Herod's
brother's wife (Mark 6:18). On this account
John was cast into prison. The hatred of
Herodias, Herod's mistress, now found oppor
tunity to display itself, and she and her daugh
ter, whose traditional name was Salome, caused
him to be beheaded. Herod was troubled in his
conscience on account of this murder, and when
he heard of the preaching of Jesus he said,
20

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
"John the Baptist is risen from *ihe dead"
(Mark 6:14).
While John was in prison he underwent a
period of great depression and doubt, and sent
two of his disciples to Jesus, asking, "Art thou
He that should come, or look we for another?"
The answer of Jesus must have done something
to reassure him, but still it must have seemed to
John passing strange that he should have been
left to die in prison.
There is no finer example of loyal friendship
or heroic self-renunciation in all human history
than that of John the Baptist. The record
shows him to have been a man of unflinching
courage, of deep spirituality and of noble devo
tion to duty. Jesus paid to him the highest trib
ute that He ever paid to any man, and John de
served every word of it.
The place where John suffered martyrdom is
traditionally identified with the castle of Ma-
chasrus, which overlooks the Dead Sea, and the
tradition is wholly probable. This narrative is
Supposed to have been written in that prison
jjust before the execution of John.
There are interesting and important elements
in the martyrdom of John which appear also
in the sacrifice of Jesus. There are also marked
differences, among which this is notable, that
in the crucifixion of Jesus there is no agency
21

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
of woman. The novelists and dramatists of the
world whose tendency it is to relate all tragedies
to sex come squarely against this fact, that men
and only men had share in the greatest tragedy
ever enacted on earth. Of woman in those
terrible days it has been well said, —
"Not she with traitorous kiss her Saviour stung;
Not she denied Him with unholy tongue:
She, when apostles shrank, could danger brave-
Last at the cross, and earliest at the grave."
The motives that drove Jesus to the cross
are to be found in the sphere of man's ambi
tion and achievement, in political action, in
institutionalised and apostate religion, in mas
culine greed and male cowardice.
In the tragedy of John another motive en
ters. Two wicked women had their important
share in his death. The motives of Herodias are
apparent. The question has often been raised,
and cannot certainly be answered, whether her
daughter, called Salome, had any other motive
than the desire to please her mother. A popular
drama has assumed such a motive and has
worked it out ingeniously, but in the judgment
of the present author, unworthily. It is not
at all impossible, however, that the daughter of
Herodias may have had her own reasons for
her action, and that suggestion is referred to,
22

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
but not enlarged upon, in the narrative here
presented. ANDREW
THE name Andrew is from the Greek, and
means "manly." He was a brother of
Simon Peter, and the one through whom Simon
himself came to Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels
give us little except his name, grouped in its
relation^ to that of Simon Peter in the lisijs of
the twelve apostles. The Fourth Gospel gives
to us a distinct impression of his character and
service. Andrew was a native of Bethsaida, and his
father's name was John. Andrew was a fisher
man, and lived at Capernaum in the same house
with his brother Simon. His first appearance
in the Gospel narrative is at the river Jordan,
where he was a disciple of John the Baptist,
and one of the first two who followed Jesus.
He went out immediately and found his brother
Simon and brought him to Jesus.
The actual call to permanent association with
Jesus followed some months later, and the two
brothers, together with the other members of
the apostolic group, became the constant com
panions of Jesus and remained with Him to the
end of his ministry.
Andrew's name appears in the apostolic lists
23

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
in the first group of four, Simon and Andrew,
James and John; but in the innermost circle
of three his name is omitted; Peter and the two
sons of Zebedee are the three who are nearest
to Jesus on the great occasions.
On two occasions, the feeding of the multi
tude, and the coming of the Greeks to see Jesus
at the feast at Jerusalem, Andrew has a promi
nent part, and is associated with Philip, the
only other apostle who had a Greek name. (John
6:5, seq., and 12:20 seq.) After this Andrew is
not mentioned in the New Testament, except /
as one of those who came to Jesus for an ex
planation of v His prediction of the destruction
of Jerusalem (Mark 13:30), and as one of those
present with the apostolic group after the resur
rection of Jesus (Acts 1:13).
There is a tradition that Andrew later be
came a missionary to Achaia, and that he was
martyred at Patrae, being bound to a. "decus
sate" cross, that is, a cross shaped like the letter
X. About 740 he became the patron saint of
Scotland through the belief that his arm had
been brought to the town on the east coast of
Scotland which in his honour is named St. An
drews. The Muratorian Fragment preserves a tradi
tion that John and Andrew were together in
their old age, in which association John, in
24

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
obedience to a revelation made to Andrew, wrote
the Fourth Gospel, and Andrew reviewed and
approved it. (See Wescott, Gospel of John,
p. xxxv.)
Fragments of an apocryphal work known as
"The Acts of Andrew" are given in the volume
of "Apocryphal Acts" edited by Bernard Pick
(Open Court Publishing Company). This docu
ment manifests the ascetic tendency of a later
time, and affords no insight into the real char
acter of Andrew.
The legend of his preaching in Achaia is
held by some scholars to be an error arising
from a confusion of names, the real scene of his
labours being, as they hold, and as I am dis
posed to think, on the east shore of the Black
Sea. This agrees with the statement of Euse
bius, the eminent church historian, that Andrew
laboured in the region of the Black Sea; and
he is on that account accepted as the patron saint
of Russia.
His character, as the Gospel narrative dis
closes it, was that of an earnest, straightfor
ward and business-like man, who did his part
in a way that was generally inconspicuous but
which manifested fidelity and good sense.
As he lived in the home of Simon, whose wife
is mentioned, and there is no mention of the
wife of Andrew, we may infer that he was
25

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
unmarried or a widower, but this, of course,
is not certain. He was a devoted and useful,
though not brilliant, follower of Jesus.
The following narrative assumes the truth
of the tradition that he laboured in the region
of the Black Sea and that the legend "of his
labour in Achaia is a mistake. It is supposed
to have been written near the end of his long
life, in prison near the Black Sea.
JUDAS ISCARIOT
JUDAS was the son of one Simon and was
born in Kerioth, a city or village of Judah.
This town has not been identified and some
scholars incline to the opinion that the name
is a corruption of Jericho.
The name Judas was a common one, being
the Greek form of the Hebrew name Judah.
There are six persons known to us before the
time of Christ who bear this name, and six
others in the New Testament. Most illustrious
of all these was Judas Maccabeus, one of the
noblest and most highly honoured of all the
heroes of Jewish history. His popularity ac
counts in part for the frequency of the name.
The life of Judas, previous to his call to be
a disciple, is unknown to us. We are not told
when or under what circumstances he came to
26

GENERAL INTRODUCTION /
Jesus. The name of Judas invariably occurs
last in all the lists of the apostles, but this is
because of his character and indicates nothing
of the time of his coming to Jesus. That time,
however, was certainly ¦' after the call of the
first six, Simon and Andrew, James and John,
Philip and Nathaniel, and probably also after
that of Matthew and some of the others. It is
to be assumed that Judas shared in the privi
leges and prerogatives of the apostolic group,
and it is quite certain that up to the time of
the Last Supper he had not manifested any
such depravity' as might have enabled the dis
ciples instantly to recognise the one among them
all who was most likely to betray the Lord.
Whatever jealousy and suspicions existed prior
to the actual act of betrayal, his associates had
not marked him in their mind as wholly base, or
deprived him of his office as treasurer. After
that event it was easy for the disciples to re
member suspicious acts on the part of Judas
to which they had given little attention at the
time. The motive of Judas in the betrayal of Jesus
has been the subject of no little conjecture.
The Fourth Gospel speaks of him as a thief,
and states that his visit to the priests with the
offer of the betrayal of Jesus followed his dis
appointment that Mary's alabaster box of oint-
27

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
ment was not sold and the money put into the
treasury, which he controlled. This we accept
as a true statement. It would not be safe , to
presume, however, that the sole motive of Judas
was resentment on account of the Bethany in
cident, or disappointment that he was not per
mitted an opportunity for pilfering from this
larger sum. Nor are we justified in assuming
that the thirty pieces of silver constituted his
chief inducement. Had he been only a thief,
he could have found some more fruitful field
for the employment of his proclivities than
was offered by, the scanty treasury of the apos
tolic company.
Attempts have been made to condone his act,
and even to exalt it into one of sincere, though
misguided patriotism. The uncompromising
words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels con
cerning Judas do not permit us to deceive our
selves with any theory which would make his
betrayal of his Lord a meritorious act. It must
have been, however, something . more than ex
pression of covetousness, although covetousness
had its part in the shameful deed.
Some years ago the writer was in Oberam-
mergau, the guest of Anton Lang and his wife
and talked with them concerning the promi
nence of Judas in the Passion Play, in which
next to the Christus he is the leading male
28

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
character. The writer said to these friends,
"I should think that any man would be reluc
tant to assume the character of Judas in the
Passion Play, but I find it is eagerly sought
for." Frau Lang could not understand my
£>oint of view. She said, "Oh, but consider how
high an honor it is to be able to show the re
pentance of so great a sinner."
The reader of this little volume will not need
to be told that of the four brief interpretations
here given that of Judas presents far more
difficulties than any of the other three. The
viewpoint of the writer is that of the New
Testament narratives. He assumes their re
liability, so far as they go ; but they do not at
tempt anything like an analysis of the motives
of Judas. These almost certainly were more
complex than the New Testament writers had
any occasion to explore. The first three Gospels
deal with these motives hardly at all and John
is concerned only with the relation of the be
trayal to the anointing at Bethany. It is legiti
mate, therefore, to inquire what were the deeper,
•underlying motives of Judas. In the judg
ment of the writer there is sufficient material
for a reasonable hypothesis, which makes the
crime of Judas comprehensible, while still leav
ing it almost shameful and despicable act.
This narrative is presumed to have been writ-
29

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
ten on Saturday, the day following the cruci
fixion. JAMES THE BROTHER OF JESUS
JESUS was the first born son of Mary (Luke
2:7). Subsequently she bore to Joseph
four sons, whose names were James, Joseph,
Judas and Simon, and several daughters (Mat
thew 13:55, 56; Mark 6:3). The family in
which Jesus was reared therefore consisted of
five sons and not less than two daughters. The
theory that these other children were older than
Jesus and children of Joseph by a previous
marriage, has no proof whatever and is a pure
invention intended to support the theory of
Mary's perpetual virginity.
It is notable that the five sons of this family
all had Old Testament names, — Joshua or
Jesus, Jacob or James, Joseph, Judas or Judah,
and Simeon or Simon. The attitude of James
himself as being very zealous for the law would
appear to have been characteristic of the family
in which he and Jesus were reared.
The pre-eminence of James among the
"brothers of the Lord" would appear to indicate
that he next after Jesus was the eldest son.
He was in youth, therefore, the constant asso
ciate, schoolmate, playmate and fellow-appren
tice of Jesus. 30

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
During the ministry of Jesus his brethren
did not believe -in Him. At times they thought
Him mad and went to Capernaum to arrest Him
(Mark 3:21, 31). At least once they sneered
at Him (John 7 :3-5). Their unbelief must have
been a part of the cruel disappointment which
Jesus suffered on his first return to his home
town, Nazareth.
That Jesus did not fully trust his relatives
is indicated in the fact that He commended his
mother to the care of John.
After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to His
brother James (I Corinthians 15:7). It would
appear that the conversion of James was the
direct result of this appearance. Of the sub
sequent history of James we gather from the
Acts of the Apostles and from the Epistles of
Paul that, after the Ascension, he, with his
brothers, remained at Jerusalem in company
with th6 eleven apostles and Mary and the other
women, and that they were there together on
the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:14).
One of the strangest facts in New Testament
, history is this, that within ten years from that
time, James had become the recognised head
of the church at Jerusalem, and "the brethren
of the Lord" had come to a recognition that
placed them above the twelve apostles. We
have no information which enables us to account
31

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
for this remarkable experiment in church gov
ernment, which for a time promised or threat
ened to lodge something like hereditary sacer
dotal authority in a succession of the blood re
lations of Jesus. Fortunately this did not last,
but it lasted for a number of years. This we
must attribute in some degree to the high charac
ter of James.
Paul informs us that three years after his
conversion, that is to say about 38 A.D., he
went up to Jerusalem and remained with Peter
fifteen days, seeing no other apostle but only
James, the Lord's brother (Galatians 1:18-19).
When Peter escaped from prison, about six
years after this (A.D. 44), he went to the
house of Mary, the mother of Mark, and de
sired that news of his escape might be sent to
James and the brethren (Acts 12:17). Most
striking of all these references is that recorded
in Acts 1 5 and in Galatians 2 :9, in which about
the year A.D. 51 James presided at the Council
in Jerusalem, which passed definitely upon the
question whether Gentile Christians were to be
required to keep the Jewish law. Seven years
later James was still iri the same position of
authority, when, about 58 A.D., Paul returned
from his third missionary journey (Acts 21:18).
It would appear from V Corinthians 9:5 that
James was married, but we know nothing of his
32

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
family life. Paul's reference might be applied
to a sister instead of to a wife.
James came to be known as the Just. He
was very zealous for the Jewish law. Early
tradition speaks of him as a "man of constant
prayer, whose knees became calloused like the
knees of a camel by his incessant devotions.
v We have no account in the New Testament
of the death of James. There is' a tradition
that he was killed by a blow from a fuller's
club, but this tradition carries no great weight.
He is generally believed to have been the author
of the epistle of James.
The narrative here presented is presumed
to have been written shortly after the Council
at Jerusalem, described in Acts 15, when James
was at the height of his honour as head of
the Jerusalem church. It undertakes to tell
something of what James might have told of
his boyhood memories of Jesus and of the ex
periences which preceded his own conversion.

33

The Gospel According to JOHN THE BAPTIST

Mabk 1:1-11.
THE beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ [the
' Son of God].
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
Here I send my messenger before your -face
to prepare the way for you:
the voice of one who cries in, the desert,
'Make the way ready for the Lord,
level the paths for him' —
John appeared baptising in the desert and preaching
a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
and the whole of Judaea and all the people of Jeru
salem went out to him and got baptised by him in the
Jordan river, confessing their sins. John was dressed
in camel's hair, with a leather girdle round his loins,
and he ate locusts and wild honey. He announced,
"After me one who is mightier will come,
and I am not fit to stoop and untie the string of
his sandals*:
I have baptised you with water,
but he will baptise you with* the holy Spirit."
Now it was in those days that Jesus arrived from
Nazareth in Galilee and got baptised in the Jordan
by John. And the moment he rose from the water
he saw the heavens cleft and the Spirit coming down
upon him like a dove; then said a voice from heaven,
, "Thou art my Son, the Beloved,
in thee is my delight."
37

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
Mask 6:14-39.
Now the preaching of Jesus came,to the hearing of
king Herod, for the name of Jesus had become well
known; people said, "John the Baptiser has risen
from the dead, that is why miraculous powers are
working through him;" others said, "It is Elijah,"
others again, "It is a prophet, like one of the old
prophets." But when Herod heard of it he sai3,
"John has risen, the John I beheaded." For this
Herod had sent and arrested John and bound him
in prison on account of his marriage to Herodias,
the wife of his brother Philip; John had told Herod,
"You have no right to your brother's wife." Herodias
had a grudge against him; she wanted him killed but
she could not manage it, for Herod stood in awe of
John, knowing. he was a just and holy man; so he
protected John — he was greatly exercised when he
listened to him, still he was glad to listen to him.
Then came a holiday, when Herod held a feast on his
birthday for his chief officials and generals and the
notables of Galilee. The daughter of Herodias went
in and danced to them, and Herod and his guests
were so delighted that the king said to the girl, "Ask
anything you like and I will give you it." He swore
to her, "I will give you whatever you want, were it
the half of my realm." So she went- out and said to
her mother, "What am I to ask?" "John the Bap-
tiser's head," she answered. Then she hurried in at
once and asked the king, saying, "I want you to give
me this very moment John the Baptist's head on a
dish." The king was very vexed, but for the sake
of his oaths and his guests he did not like to disap
point her; so the king at once sent one of the guard
with orders to bring his head. The man went and
beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a
38

JOHN THE BAPTIST
dish, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to
her mother. When his disciples heard of it they
went and fetched his body and laid it in a tomb.

Johw 1:19-28.
Now here is John's testimony. When the Jews of
Jerusalem despatched priests and Levites to ask him,
"Who are you?" he frankly confessed— he did not
deny it, he frankly confessed, "I am not the Christ."
They asked him, "Then what are you? Elijah?"
He said, "I am not." "Are ydu the Prophet?" "No,"
he answered. "Then who are you?" they said; "tell us,
so that we can give some answer to those who sent us.
What have you to say for yourself?" He said, "I am
the voice of one who cries in the desert,
'level the way for the Lord' —
as the prophet Isaiah said." Now it was some of
the Pharisees who had been sent to him; so they
asked him, saying, "Then why are you baptising
people, if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor
the Prophet?" "I am baptising with water," John
replied, "but my successor is among you, One whom
you do not recognise, and I am not fit to untie the
string of his sandal." This took place at Bethany on
the opposite side of the Jordan, where John was
baptising.

John 3:22-30.
After this Jesus and his disciples went into the
country of Judaea, where he spent some time with
them baptising. John was also baptising at Aenon
near Salim, as there was plenty of water there, and
39

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
people came to him and were baptised (John had not
yet been thrown into prison). Now a dispute arose
between John's disciples and a Jew over the question
of "purification";' and" they came and' told John,
"Rabbi, the man who was with you on the opposite
side of the Jordan, the man to whom you bore testi
mony — here he is, baptising, and everybody goes to
him!" John answered, "No one can receive anything
except as a gift from heaven. You can bear me
out, that I said, 'I am not the Christ'; what I said
was, 'I have been sent in advance of him.' He who
has the bride is the bridegroom; the bridegroom's
friend, who stands by and listens to him, is heartily
glad at the sound of the bridegroom's voice. Such is
my joy, and it is complete. He must wax, I must
wane."

Matthew 11:2-19.
Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was
doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the
Coming One? Or are we to look out for someone
else?" Jesus answered them. "Go and report to
John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame
walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the
dead are raised. And blessed is he who is repelled
by nothing in me!" As the disciples of John went
away, Jesus proceeded to speak to the crowds about
John: >
"What did you go out to the desert to see?
A reed swayed by the wind?
Come, what did you go out to see?
A man arrayed in soft raiment?
The wearers of soft raiment are in royal- palaces.
40

JOHN THE BAPTIST
Come, why did you go out?
To .see a prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet.
This is he of whom it is written,
Here I send my messenger before your face
to prepare the way for you.
I tell you truly, no one has arisen among the sons
of women who is greater than John the Baptist, and
yet the least in the Realm of heaven is greater than
he is. From the days of John the Baptist till now
the Realm of heaven suffers violence, and the vio
lent press into it. For all the prophets and the
law prophesied of it until John: — if you care to be
lieve it, he is the Elijah who is to come. He who
has an ear, let him listen to this.
But to what shall I compare this generation? H>
is like children sitting in the marketplace, who call
to their playmates.
'We piped to you and you would not dance,
we lamented and you would not beat your
breasts.'
For John has come neither eating nor drinking,
and men say, 'He has a devil';
the Son of man has come eating and drinking,
and men say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of taxgatherers and sinners!'
Nevertheless, Wisdom is vindicated by all that
she does."

41

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN
THE BAPTIST
Written in the Castle of Machaerus, on the Dead Sea?
in January, A.D. 28, about one year after
John's baptism of Jesus.
A PRISON is not a cheerful place in which
to write, but there is little else that I
can do. For a man who has led an active life
to sit idly in a cell with 'no power to influence
events either with regard to himself or the
world, is far from being a cheerful situation.
I must do something, or thinking will drive me
mad. I wonder if any man who ever lived has
been more perplexed than I. I have plenty of
time to write. Moreover, conditions for writing
are not unfavourable. Herod, who has cast me
irito prison, and is keeping me here, is never
theless kindly disposed towards me. He has
given orders that I shall not be subjected to-
needless discomfort or humiliation, and that I
shall be well fed and kept in a cell that is light
43

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
i
and dry. I think that he would like to release
me, but whether I shall ever escape from the
confinement of these four walls I greatly ques
tion. I know what influences surround him and
menace me. I know what motives of hatred and
j ealoi*tsy and spite are in the 'hearts of the two
women who have committed me to this place.
From the narrow window of my cell I can look
across the end of the Dead Sea to Jericho,
where Herod is making merry with Herodias,
whom he calls his wife. Her wicked daughter,
Salome, furnishes him amusement and keeps her
control over him. From two such wicked wo
men I shall not escape, save by a miracle from
God, or the conversion of Herod, or some act
of rescue performed on my behalf by HJm
whom I have proclaimed as the coming Mes
siah. I might have been free; had I compromised
with my conscience. I might have said that I
was concerned with Herod only as to his polit
ical life. Some men in my position would
have made "that distinction, and have sought to
win the favor of Herod in order that thereby
they might promote the cording kingdom of
God, but I could not do tljiis and be true to my
conscience; so I told him the truth, though I
knew that it would anger him and still more
44

JOHN THE BAPTIST
would anger Herodias and her daughter. That
is why J am here.
I might have been free if I had not testified
to Jesus. That which cast me into prison was
my declaration that He was the Lamb of God.
I was looking for Him whose coming I had
foretold. I believed that I had discovered Him.
I told my disciples that it was He who was to
redeem Israel; that was the beginning of the
end for me. Since that day I have known
nothing but disappointment and the agony of
doubt. Was I right, or was I mistaken ?
The honour might have been mine. He was
a peasant, a carpenter; but I was born a priest.
My mother was of the daughters of David, and
my father traced his descent in direct line from
the noble Eleazar of 'the house of Aaron. I
turned away from the honours of my inheritance
and those which might have been mine by right
of my achievements. I made my home in the
wilderness and forgot the comfort of soft rai
ment and the shelter of a home that I might
preach the coming of One, whose name I did
not then know but Who proved to be my cousin,
Jesus, of Nazareth. I had gathered the
crowds; I had spoken the message; and I gave
all my success to Him.
Jesus and I were boyhood friends. We saw
each other infrequently, but we were very dear
45

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
to each other. He visited our home in Jerusa
lem when He was twelve years old, for our
family had a lodging there which we made our
home when my > father was in service as a priest.
Our country home and my birthplace was in a
little town near Bethlehem and Hebron, in the
hill country of Judea. Two or three times in the
course of our boyhood Jesus visited us there,
and on the occasion of the Jerusalem visit He
iremained two nights at our house after his
people had started back toward Nazareth.
Once or twice we visited them in Nazareth.
Our mothers were very dear friends. His
mother, Mary, spent three months in our home,
in the- year that preceded his birth and mine.
Though I saw Him infrequently I loved Him
sincerely. He was the finest boy I ever knew.
When He came to me to be baptised and I said
to Hiin* "I have need to be baptized of Thee,
and comest Thou to me?" I did not mean that
I recognized Him as the Messiah; for no such
suspicion had ever occurred to me. I only
meant that I knew Him as a lovable boy and
a noble and righteous young man, and that I
had marked Him in my mind as finer and more
worthy than any of the scribes or notable men
who had come to me from Jerusalem and had
"received baptism at my hands. It is not neces
sary for me to recall incidents from our youth.
46

JOHN THE BAPTIST
Our life together was that of two happy, nor
mal and serious-minded boys. We played tp-
/ gether, we walked together, we talked of such
things as boys talk together about, and the
memory of it all leaves me with this conviction,
that of all men I have ever known He was the
-¦w
noblest and the best. But was I right when I
proclaimed Him the Messiah?
Why should He be the Messiah and not I?
No one ever thought of calling Him Messiah
until I recognized Him as being the one of
whom the voice of God had said to me that I
should see the Spirit descending upon Him in
form like a dove. But many people thought
they recognized me as the Messiah. Am I not
more likely to have been mistaken than they?
Was it really a dove, or 'was it only a dove-like
halo? If it was a halo, may it have been only
a passing gleam of sunlight, coloured with some
unusual hue reflected from the desert, the river
or the fringed bank? With so many passing
phases of light and shade, almost any curious
form may be assumed by cloud or gleam of
light. Did it indeed resemble a dove, or was it
only my imagination? And if it was a real
dove that circled about Him and descended
until it almost touched His head, how can I be
sure the circling flight of a bird has in it any
particular spiritual significance ? It was a small
47

I
FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
token to serve as the certificate of so mighty
an affirmation. But how many people came to
me and said, Art not thou the Christ? I an
swered that I was not. I denied being even
a prophet; but He has said that I am a prophet
and more than a prophet. Have I understated
my own claim to recognition ? Have I been too
quick in assuming that I am not what so many
good- men have believed that I am?
If Jesus can be a Messiah, why may not I?
Tokens of great import accompanied my birth.
My father was old and well stricken in years,
and I was born as one given of God in answer
to prayer and destined for a special mission.
Jesus is a carpenter; I was born to the priest
hood. He has had the training of the village
synagogue; I have had the education belongirig
to the eldest son of a priest.
Is it wicked for me to think thoughts like this ?
Alas, I am compelled to think, to wonder, to
question, to doubt. God knows I have not
cherished within my heart a selfish ambition;
. * I have turned my back upon it from the first.
I would not question if He were doing what it
seems a Messiah should do. As it is, how can
I help questioning?
All through my boyhood I , felt within me
the impulse to give myself to some great task
for my people. I had no need to sacrifice ex-
48

JOHN THE BAPTIST
cept for the sake of the cause I loved and the
conscience which I obeyed. I grew up in com
fort, and^ I beheld about me luxury, arid my
heart grieved for the sins of men, and yearned
for a simple and spiritual religion. ,
I turned my back upon my home. I forsook
the temple and the priesthood, and I meditated
in the desert till I became sure that the time
of the promise of the word of ;God was draw
ing near. Then I began to preach, and to say,
"Turn, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Men came to hear me, in greater and still
greater numbers. When the multitude asked
me, "What shall we do?" I said, "He that hath
two coats, let him impart to him that hath none,
and he that hath food, let him do likewise."
Thus did I seek to make all men brothers, in
simple living and in charity.
The publicans came to me, and I said, "Ex
tort no more than is due you." I did not de
nounce them for their calling, nor demand that
they leave it, but taught them to be honest and
sympathetic in a hard place where they are
subject to great temptations and to great abuse.
So did I seek to make men honest and reputable
in places of necessity, where moral risks are
great, but where service must be rendered.
There came to me soldiers, and they asked me,
"What shall we do?" I answered them, "Extort
49 \

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
from no man by violence, neither accuse any
man wrongfully, and be content with your
wages." Upon these," and all the children of the poor,
'I laid no heavy burden. But when the Pharisees
came to me in their pride, them did I rebuke,
and I said, "Ye offspring of vipers, who hatb
warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance; and
say not within yourselves, 'We have Abraham
to our father,' for I say unto you, that God is
able of these stones to raise up children unto
Abraham." I told them that the axe was laid to the root
of the tree, and that the trees that brought
not forth fruit were to be cut down. I did not
fear the face of the mighty, neither did I grind
the face of the poor. I showed sympathy where
men's burdens were heavy, and I was stern to
those who laid the burdens upon the backs of
their brother men.
And then men began to say that I was the
Messiah. I did not believe it; and yet, how
do I know that they were not right?
I wrought no miracle. I gathered my crowds
by the power of a message that Was earnest, '
searching and deep. I employed neither favour
nor fear to win men's regard for me; I feared
50

JOHN THE BAPTIST
God and Him only, and I sought no favour other
than that which He bestows-.
I do not think I was the Messiah. I think
I was right in denying it. But is Jesus the
Messiah? Is it He. who was to come, or are
we to look for another ? If He is the Messiah,
why am I in prison? I can not work miracles,
but He can. Why does He let me lie here under
the sword of Herod, and the heel of a harlot?
He came to me to be baptised. I baptised Him,
remembering all the days of our boyhood, and
my admiration for Him. I said to Him, "I
have need to be baptised of Thee." I never
said that to any priest or Pharisee, but I said
it to Him, though I knew not that He was
the Holy One of God. But when I had bap
tised Him, I saw the Dove, and I felt that I
had found the Messiah.
Then He disappeared. I looked for Him,
but He had gone. I was ready to decrease
and let Him increase. But I could not find
Him. He was away for six weeks, and He
left no message. While He was gone, the pres
sure upon me grew. A committee came down
to see me from Jerusalem. There were priests
and Levites among them. They were hostile,
some of them, and others were sympathetic,
and some were my followers, who wanted that
I should announce myself as the Messiah. I
51

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
refused to do it. I had already contrasted my
own work with that of Him who was to- come.
I had said that mine was the voice of prepara
tion. So when this committee came to interview
me and compel me to define my position, I was
under necessity of thinking the matter through
again. But I confessed, and denied not, but
said unto them plainly, "I am not the Christ."
"Are you not Elijah?" they inquired.
"No," I answered, "Do not think of me as
Elijah. I am not worthy to be thought of as
deserving so great honour."
"Are you the promised prophet?" they asked.
"No," I said, "I am not that prophet or any
other." "Who are you, then?" they asked. "Whai
have you to say for yourself?"
"I have nothing to say for myself," I an
swered. "I am not the Christ; nor Elijah; nor
am I a prophet. I am only a voice. I am like
the nameless voice whose message is recorded
vin the book of Isaiah, 'Prepare ye the way of
the Lord; make straight in the desert the high
way pf our God'."
They said, "This is a very unsatisfactory
answer to take back to the influential body of
men who sent us to you. They are much in
terested. They are very desirous of knowing
52

JOHN THE BAPTIST
the truth; If you are the Christ, their influence
would be of great service to you. If you have
any plans in which they can assist, they would
like to know those plans, and then to consider
whether assistance would be feasible. If you
are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet,
why are you forming an organization? Why
are you initiating people as your followers by
the use of the rite of baptism?"
"I indeed baptise with water," I said, "but
there standeth One among you Whom ye know
not who is to baptise you with the Holy Spirit
and with fire. I am not worthy to loosen the
latchets of the shoes of Him who is to come."
They did not know Him, but I had seen and
borne witness that He was the Son of God.
But where had He gone? Why was He not
there, that' I might have introduced Him, and
permitted Him to speak for Himself? He was
away in the wilderness; and when He returned,
He did not remain with me. He did not lighten
my responsibility, nor did he appear interested
in my plans nor consult me about them.
I saw Him the very day after the committee
had returned to Jerusalem, and I said in my
heart, "Here is the One for whom I have re
nounced all earthly honour. I wjill lose no
time in proclaiming Him. I will begin by tell-
53

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
ing my own disciples that they must desert me,
if necessary, and follow Him,"
It was a hard thing to do. Those disciples
of mine were very dear to me. It was not easy
to tell them that I must decrease and He must
increase. But I did it.
It was about four o'clock in the afternoon of
a day in February. I was returning from my
day's work, preaching, teaching, baptising, and
two of my disciples were with me. I saw Jesus,
and without a moment's hesitatiton I pointed
them to Jesus and said, "Behold the Lamb of
God, that taketh away the sin of the world."
I did not hesitate. I walked straight away
and left them standing there; They paused a
moment and looked, as I know, first after me,
and then after Jesus, and then after me again,
wondering just what they ought to do. But
my own word had been too definite for them to
misunderstand. They had long understood that
mine was a work of preparation, and now they
knew that the time of our separation had come.
They followed Jesus. That evening and the '
next morning I lost five of my best disciples,
Andrew and Simon Peter and Philip and
Nathaniel and John the son of Zebedee, and it
was not long till John's brother James joined in
the group. Six disciples out of his twelve Jesus
54

JOHN THE BAPTIST
had immediately, and as the direct result of my
testimony. I did not complain. I do not complain. I
expected to lose them. I wanted to lose them.
I will not ask what gain has come to me. But
what gain has come to them or to the world?
Is the kingdom of God any nearer? Has Jesus
any programme that is to bring it nearer ? What
if I have lost all and there has been no gain
either to my beloved disciples or the world?
These are the questions that haunt me. I am
not regretting my magnanimity, if anyone might
call it so. I am asking myself whether it was
for any good that I made those sacrifices. If
so, where is the good?
They did not all leave me. Some of them
I could not persuade to go away. I have disci
ples as far away as Egypt, and others in dis
tant cities as remote as Ephesus. I have disci
ples who have- never heard of Jesus, but who
love me and would do anything for me if I
would permit them to do so.
It was not long until Jesus was teaching more
people than I. My own disciples noticed it,
and came to me, telling me that He whom I had
baptised was drawing great crowds, and that
they knew that I could see that the crowds were
no longer with me. I told them that I was the
friend of the bridegroom, and not the bride-
55

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
groom, . and that I rej oiced in his success.
Then came more disturbing reports. Jesus
did not fast. He did not teach his disciples set
forms of prayer. He seemed to have no
method, no system, no program. I could not
learn what He was expecting to do. Meantime,
I was losing prestige, and it became easier for
Herod to arrest me without bringing on a pop
ular revolt. There was a time when Herod would
have hesitated to cast me into prison. If I
still had my great company of followers, even
he would have thought twice before risking a
popular uprising. But my company now is
small, because I sent them to Jesus. And why
does He do nothing to release me? Has He not
the power? Or has He not the will? Or have
I been mistaken? Have I trusted Him too far?
Would it have been better if I had waited until
He had really shown Himself to be the Son of
God? I am not bitter ; I am not resentful ; I am not
jealous; I do not regret my renunciation. The
questions that haunt and torment me do- not
grow out of my own selfishness. I am com
pelled to ask myself, having given up all, what
gain is to come of it, either , to me or to the
world? What I heard about His habit of life dis
tressed me. He was not ascetic as I was. I re-
56

JOHN THE BAPTIST
nounced fine raiment, but He wears a seamless
robe of expensive pattern. I left the food of
rich men's tables with the rich men whose luxury
I condemned, but He feasts with them. I have*
never touched wine, but He is called a wine-
bibber. I have been charged with belonging to
the sect of the Essenes. I am not a member of
that body. They live in communities, and prac
tice their abstemious rites in common. I live
in the desert alone, or with such small groups
of my disciples as come to me. I live on locusts
and wild honey. But He sits at rich men's
tables, and I hear that He has been publicly
anointed by a harlot at a feast.
I am told that He was asked why He and I
were so different in our methods, and He spoke
well of my method and also of his own, saying
that in the kingdom of God people had wide
liberty of choice, and that wisdom was justified
in both kinds of her children. That was gen
erous of Hita, and I am told that He spoke
words of very high praise of me, saying that I
was no reed shaken by the wind, but the great
est man who had lived, and greater than a
prophet. That was very noble in Him, for He
and I are very different in our methods, and He
was careful not in any way to criticize my way
of life or method of teaching. He is generous;
He is noble; He is righteous; I am not worthy
57

,-FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
to loosen the latchets of His* shoes. But wliy
does He leave me here in prison to die neg
lected, while He feasts at rich men's houses,
and wears expensive raiment, and accepts fav
ours from sinners? I am not jealous; I am not
a willing doubter, but I am alone and deserted
and in prison and in peril of the sword. Why
does He not rescue me ? Is He the Christ ?
I have been compared to Elijah. There is a
promise in the writings of the prophet Malachi
that God is to send Elijah before the coming
of the Messiah. I have always understood this
to mean that so great an event as the coming of
the Son of God must have its foregleams of
expectancy and its heralds whose hearts pre
pare the way. I am one of those heralds, but
have no claim to be called Elijah. Yet my ex
perience and that of Elijah's have points in
common. As Elijah rebuked Ahab on Jezebel's"
account, so have I rebuked Herod, not fearing
the wrath of a wicked woman; and as Jezebel
determined to destroy the life of Elijah, so has
Herodias determined to have my life. And as
Elijah sat under his juniper tree and lamented,
so am I in prison lamenting. God spake unto
Elijah in the still, small voice that followed
the earthquake and the fire ; why does He not
speak to me? I know that I am disposed to
trust too much in fire and earthquake, but I
58

JOHN THE BAPTIST
listen, also. Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
That Jezebel, Herodias, has sent me more
than one message. Herod does riot want to kill
me, and she wants me to retain Herod's favor.
She has sent me word that all will be well with
me if I will consent to preach religion and let
matters of Herod's private life alone. She can
release me, and has told me so. But I will not
bow the knee to her, nor. worship Satan at her
behest. I hesitate to write of her daughter, but she
has visited me here. She dared to go beyond
the proposal of her mother, and to say that she
was fond of me, and would rather have my heart
than my head. But I spurned her and defied
her, for she is a wicked person, and I gave heed
to her not for one moment, lest I be tempted
to save my life and lose my soul.
I know that Herod is privy to these pro
posals. Herod fears me, and respects me, al
though he resents my meddling with his domes-
l£c affairs. If I could come to terms with
Herodias and her daughter, it would please him.
I dare even think that nothing would please
him more than that I should marry Salome, for
my influence would tend to win back to him
and his house some of the support Which has
come to me, and which I might utilize, if I was
base enough, for niy own protection. But what
59

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
Would this be but for Elijah to fall down and
worship Baal? Nay, I would die a thousand
deaths before I would do this.
But I do not like to die. I am not yet thirty-
two, , and I have begun a gTeat work, which I
would live to finish. Nay, more, I want to see
the kingdom of God, of which I have been
preaching, and to witness the reign of the
Messiah whom I have proclaimed. I have lived
a stern life, but I have had the joy of living.
The glory of the day and night as I have beheld
them in the desert, the climbing of the purple
shadows at sunset up the slope of the eastern
hills, the mystery of the night with its thousand
eyes, and the miracle of the dawn as I have
learned to look for it, all these I rejoice to see.
And mine is the normal ambition of the healthy
man to achieve, to conquer, to establish some
thing that bears his name and wins him recPg-
nition. I have not sought this selfishly, God
knows, but the success which I won came to me
honestly. Only by force of character and the
power of my message was I able to gain with
toil that which so cheaply I gave away. I do
not seek it back; I do not complain. But I am
terrified when I recall that He seems to be
making no adequate use of what I achieved and
gave to Him. Is it He that should come, or
60

JOHN THE BAPTIST
must I look for another? Alas, if it be another,
I shall not live to see Him.
When I could not longer endure the strain of
uncertainty, I sent two of my disciples to Jesus,
and asked Him, "Art Thou He that should
come, or do we look for another?"
They climbed down the cliffs below the castle,
and made their way along the shore of the
Dead Sea and up the Jordan and into Perea and
Galilee, and asked Him the question which I
bad taught them.
They returned yesterday, and this is the mesA
sage of Jesus:
"Go and tell John the things which ye hear
and see: the blind receive their sight, and the
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf
hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poon
have good tidings preached unto them. And
blessed is he, whosoever shall find no occasion
of stumbling in me."
It was even as He said; they heard and saw
all these things. Moreover, as they were leav
ing, they heard Him speak to the multitude con
cerning me, saying,
What went ye out into the wilderness to behold?
a reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye
out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold,
they that are gorgeously apparelled, and live deli
cately, are in kings' courts. But what went ye out
to see? a propnet? Yea, I say unto you, and much
61

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is
written. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
Who shall prepare thy way before thee.
I say unto you, Among them that are born of
women there is none greater than John: yet he that
is but little in the kingdom of God is greater than
he. And all the people when they heard, and the
publicans, justified God, being baptised with the bap
tism of John. But the Pharisees and the ' lawyers
rejected for themselves the counsel of God, being not
baptised of him. Whereunto then shall I liken the
men of this generation, and to what are they like?
They are like unto children that sit in the market
place, and call one to another; who say, We piped
unto you, and ye did not dance; we wailed, and ye
did not weep. For John the Baptist is come eating
no bread nor drinking wine ; and ye say, He hath a
demon. The Son of Man is come eating and drink
ing; and ye say, Behold, a gluttonous man, and a
winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! And
wisdom is justified of all her children. (Luke 7:24-35).
"Blessed is he who shall find no occasion of
stumbling in me." Shall that blessing be mine?
. Oh, I shall never condemn the man who
doubts while trying to believe! I will believe
that even the doubt may be the birth-struggle
of faith. I do not doubt willingly.
What are these works which my disciples saw
and heard? Are they not the sure tokens of
the Messiah? Surely by such works as these
are we to know Him when He comes, I will
not stumble in my faith ; I will believe ! I will
not forget the Dove that descended upon Him,
nor the voice from Heaven, saying, 'This is my
62

JOHN THE BAPTIST
beloved Son,'.' Lord, I believe; help thou mine
unbelief !
Was ever a man so tempted as I am tempted?
Did ever a man struggle more painfully be
tween doubt and faith? I will not doubt; I
will> I must believe.
And yet, why does He not come to me? He
took my "congregation, my disciples, my mes
sage. He used my name freely for His own
protection. His praise for me has been gen
erous; His words are most kind. His creden
tials I can no longer challenge; but why does
He not rescue me from temptation and doubt
and mortal danger? Why does He leave me
here to be murdered by a wicked ruler, wno
has sold his soul in exchange for fleshly lust?
Why should I be left to die deserted and neg
lected, while He grows daily in popularity, ano!
has the power of God which might release me?
He might even give me a place of honour in
His kingdom; but I will not ask for that. I
have made my way without help, and I can make
it again alone. There is a great work that I
yet might do. Why does He not release me,
that I may do that work, and not die here at
the whim of a daughter of Jezebel? Is it He
that should come, or if not, for whom shall we
look? Whom can I expect to hail as the Prince
of Israel? 63

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
If He be not the Christ, then it is hopeless
for us to expect a Christ at all. It must be He.
I am sure that He is the Son of God. I will
cling with numb hands to the skirts of God,
and say, Lord, I believe.
Hark! Who is it that comes? I hear steps
in the dark corridor. There is a man with a
sword, and behind him I see the wanton look
of the daughter of Herodias, come to tell me
that there still remains for me one chance before
the sword shall fall upon my neck. My narrow
window looks out over the Dead Sea, and there
is no life, no sound. But beyond are the hills
of Judea, where there are |green fields and
flowing brooks and songs of birds. Life is
sweet. Wpuld God I might live. Would God
I might see Him whom I have proclaimed," and
be near to Him, in whatever humblest place,
when He comes in his kingdom.
Now may God strengthen my heart for what
ever is before me, for the hour has come when
I need all my fortitude and resolution.
Come in. Stand not without, nor wait for
further invitation. Whatever are your orders,
perform your duty, and may God forgive those
at whose behest you come. Strike, for I fear
not your sword. Lord, receive now the spirit
of a doubter, who dies in faith.

64

The Gospel According to ANDREW

Matthew 10 :2-4. *
fTiHESE are the names of the twelve apostles:
A first Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew
his brother, James the son of Zebedaeus and John
his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and
Matthew the taxgatherer, James the son of Alphaeus
and Lebbaeus whose surname is Thaddaeus, Simon
the Zealot and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

John 1:35-42
Next day again John was standing with two of
his disciples; he gazed at j'esus as he walked about,
and said, "Look, there is the lamb of God!" The two
disciples heard what he said and went after Jesus.
Now Jesus turned, and when he' observed them com
ing after him, he asked them, "What do you want?"
They replied, "Rabbi" (which may be translated,
'teacher'), "where are you staying?" He said to
them, "Come and see." So they went and saw where
he stayed, and stayed with him the rest of that day —
it was then about four in the afternoon. One of
the two men who heard what John said and went
after Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Peter. In
the morning he met his brother Simon and told him,
"We have found the messiah" (which may be trans
lated, "Christ"). He took him to Jesus; Jesus gazed
at him and said, "You are Simon, the son of John?
Your name is to be Cephas'' (meaning "Peter" or
"rock")..
67

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
John 6:1-14.
After this Jesus went off to the opposite side of
the sea of Galilee (the lake of Tiberias), followed
by a large crowd on account of the Signs which they
had seen him perform on sick folk. Now Jesus went
up the hill and sat down there with his disciples.
(The passover, the Jewish festival, was at hand.)
On looking up and seeing a large crowd approaching,
he said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for
all these people to eat?" (He said this to test Philip,
for he knew what he was going to do himself.)
Philip answered, "Seven pounds' worth of bread
would not be enough for them, for everybody to get
even a morsel." One of his disciples, Andrew the
brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "There is a
servant here, with five barley-cakes and a couple of
fish; but what is that among so many?" Jesus said,
"Get the people to lie down." Now there was plenty
of grass at the spot, so the men lay down, number
ing about five thousand. Then Jesus took the loaves,
gave thanks to God, and distributed them to those
who were reclining; so too with the fish, as much as
they wanted. And when they were satisfied, he said
to the disciples, "Gather up the pieces left over* so
that nothing may be wasted." They gathered them
up, and filled twelve baskets with pieces of the five
loaves left over from the meal. Now when the people
saw the Sign he had performed, they said, "This
really is the Prophet who is to come into the world!"

Maek 13:1-8, 33-37.
As he went out of the temple one of his disciples
said to him, "Look, teacher, what a size these stones
68

ANDREW
and buildings are!" Jesus said to him, "You see
these great buildings? Not a stone shall be left on
another, without being torn down."
And as he sat on the Hill of Olives opposite the
temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked
him in private, "Tell us, when is this to happen?
What will be the sign for all this to be accom
plished?" So Jesus began: "Take care that no one
misleads you: — many will come in my name saying,
'I am he,' and mislead many. And when you hear
of wars and rumours of war, do not be alarmed;
these have to come, but it is not the end yet. For
nation, will rise against nation, and realm against
realm,; there will be earthquakes here and there, and
famines too. All that is but the beginning of the
trouble. Take care, keep awake and pray; you never
know the time. It is like a man leaving his house to
go abroad ; he puts his servants in ,charge, each with
his work to do, and he orders the porter to keep
watch. Watch then, for you never know when the
Lord of the House will come, in the late evening or
at midnight or at cock-crow or in the morning.
Watch, in case he comes suddenly and finds you
asleep. Watch: I say it to you, and I say it to all."

69

II
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ANDREW
, Written in prison, on the shore of the Black Sea,
near the end of a long life of fruitful but
inconspicuous labour.
I was there first. I do not say it boastfully,
but in simple truth. I am not disputing the
record. I know how it reads:
"Now the names of the twelve apostles are
these: The first, Simon, who is called Peters
and Andrew his brother ;" and so on through the
list to where it ends with the names of Simon
the Zealot and Judas Iscariot. I am not dis
puting Simon's right to be called the first, for
in our family the rule is illustrated that the
first shall be last and the last first. It is what
I suppose might be called the .distinction be
tween primacy and priority. Simon Peter was
a greater man than I, and I have been reminded
of it too often and in too many ways to think
of disputing it. For many years now Simon's
name has stood before mine in the list of the
71

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
apostles, and I suppose it will always be so.
Nevertheless, it was I and not Simon who first
found Jesus. There was a name which some
of my friends were accustomed to call me, Pro-
tokletos, "the first called," but that name has
been pretty well forgotten, and everybody says,
"Now the names of the twelve apostles are
these : The first Simon, who is called Peter, and
Andrew, his brother."
I remember that February afternoon when
I first saw Jesus. He had just returned from
his forty days in the wilderness, and I and the
younger son of Zebedee were standing with our
teacher, John the Baptist. We were talking
about the day's work and of the number of
people who had come down from Jerusalem to
hear John and of several notable converts whom
he had won. Every day witnessed the coming
to him of some prominent man from Jerusalem
who heard him preach, was baptised by him
and became known as one of John's disciples.
The last thing we had heard was that a commit
tee of dignified and distinguished men had come
down from Jerusalem offering to accept John
as the Messiah, and we were keenly desirous
of his acceding to their request, but he had
refused, saying that One coming after him was
mightier than himself and they were to wait for
Him. We who were John's disciples had come
72

ANDREW
to feel that no man could be greater than John
and were wondering who it could be that John
would hail as the Messiah. To me was given
this incomparable honour of having been one
of the first two men to whom Jesus was pointed
out as the Christ. Months afterward at
Caesarea Philippi, Peter acknowledged Him as
the Christ and won for himself everlasting-
honour; but John told me that Jesus was the
Christ before Peter had ever seen Jesus. The
younger son of Zebedee has told this story and
has told it truthfully:
"Again on the morrow John was standing,
and two of his disciples; and he looked upon
Jesus as He walked, and saith, Behold, the
Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard
bim speak and they followed Jesus." (John
1:35, 36.)
John ben Zebedee wrote that down, and hd
knew the truth and told it, for he was with me
there. He and I were those first two disciples.
John told my name and withheld his own, for
he understood very well that everyone who read
the story would know who was the other one:
"One of the two that heard John speak, and
followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother." (John 1:40.)
That is what I mean when I say that I was
the first I do not desire to rob Peter of any
73

FOUR HITHERTO 'UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
honour which belongs to him. He deserves
much, and he never had any difficulty in getting
all that he deserved. His force of character,
his quick decisions which were sometimes wrong-
but much oftener right, his readiness to meet
an emergency, his warm, generous and courage
ous nature entitle him to the high regard which
has been accorded him. Let no one accuse me
of seeking to rob Peter of anything that be
longs to him. He was my brother, well be-**
loved; but I came to Jesus before he did.
Peter has told his story. He gave the facts
to John Mark and he has written them out in
a short and very interesting narrative. Mat
thew and Luke have made large use of it. To
a great extent Mark's gospel is Peter's ; and so,
in a very real sense, are those of Luke and
Matthew. Peter's story is a thrice-told tale,
and it is well told. Peter deserves all the
honour which this three-fold narrative accords
him. But Peter did not tell Mark everything.
Of late John ben Zebedee has written down his
recollections, and they are not only interest
ing but important. In a way the most inter
esting thing about them is that they contain so
much which neither Mark nor Matthew ino*
Luke had recorded and yet which is far too
precious to be forgotten.
I know very well that I can never write a
74

ANDREW
book like that of John ben Zebedee. I can not
even write a book like that of Mark, which is
much shorter, and with the story told forthright,
•without any such embellishments and dis
courses as John incorporated into his story. But
I can tell what I remember and bring together-
a few things that are already written, but which
are so scattered and incidental that people have-
Very nearly forgotten and many have quite lost
something of their real significance.
Let me go back to that first day when we saw
Jesus. I do not suppose I can make anyone
understand just how we had been feeling and
what we had been talking about during those
impressive days when the preaching of John
the Baptist stirred the heart of all Palestine.
We who had lived beside the Sea of Galilee
heard from time to time of the mighty and
growing interest which Judea felt by reason
of his preaching. Every traveller who came
our way, fording the Jordan between the Sea of'
Galilee and the waters of Merom, brought news
of the great revival in Judea. It was not simply
the numbers in the crowd, but the high stand
ing of the people who came to John and con
fessed their sins that attracted our attention.
We kept hearing about this and grew more
and more interested until we came to feel that
we must have some share in it.
. 75

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
At this time I was living in Capernaum witH
Peter. We were engaged in the fishing busi
ness together. We owned a boat; it was I who
first found that the boat was for sale, and Simon
who first decided to buy it. I was unmarried.
Simon was married to a girl whom I met first
and to whom I introduced him. I sometimes
thought I could have loved her myself if Simon
had not been more prompt than I. I made in
quiry among travellers as to the preaching of
John and told it at night to Simon and his
wife, and it was Simon who said, "Let us go
down to Bethabara and hear John."
So we left Capernaum, and took with us pro
visions, and went to listen to the preaching of
John, I and my brother Simon, who was later
called Peter.
It was difficult to secure lodging near the
Jordan, but we fishermen did not care about that.
We made a camp of our own. We brought
some of our food with us, and now and then we
cast a line in the Jordan and caught a fish and
broiled it. We lacked nothing that strong men
care for. And what we heard and saw was
most interesting, thrilling and inspiring.
We went out into the wilderness to see John,
and we saw him. He was not a man clothed>
in soft raiment, neither was he a reed shaken
with the wind. He wore his shaggy coat of
76

ANDREW
camel's hair, as if it had been ermine, and he
fastened his leather girdle around his lean body
as if he were girding on a sword.
How he preached, and how men listened ! All
men believed him a prophet. Matthew has told
the story of what we saw and has told it better
than I can hope to do:
And in those days cometh John the Baptist, preach
ing in the wilderness of Judsea, saying, Repent ye;
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he
that was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Make ye ready the way of the Lord,
Make his path straight.
Now John himself had his raiment of camel's hair,
and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food
was locusts and wild honey. Then went out unto
him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region
round about the Jordan; and they were baptised of
him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But
when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to his baptism, he said unto them, Ye off
spring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the
wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy
of repentance: and think not to say within your
selves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say
unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise
up children unto Abraham. And even now the axe
lieth at the root of the trees: every tree therefore
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down,
and cast into the fire. I indeed baptise you in water
unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to
bear: he shall baptise you in the Holy Spirit and in
fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly
cleanse his threshing-floor; and he will gather his
wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up
with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:1-12).
77

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
Mitred priests and proud Pharisees trembled
when they heard such words as these. Is it any
wonder that we fishermen were profoundly
moved ? Simon and I made haste to enroll our
selves as His disciples. We stepped into the
Jordan side by side, but John baptised Simon
first., It was always that way. And yet I think
it was I, who said to Simon before he said it
to me, "Surely this man is a prophet and when
I hear him preach I feel constrained to con
fess my sin and enroll myself as one "who is
waiting for the kingdom of God.
While we were at the Jordan, we met the
younger son of Zebedee, John, whose home was
in Bethsaida and whom we knew very well. He
and his brother and father were our enterprising
competitors in the fishing business. Though
competitors we were friends,, as good fishermen
know how to be. We did not love them well
enough to let them get first to a good place for
fishing if we could avoid it, nor did we willingly
yield to them a place before us in the fish mar
ket at Capernaum, where they sometimes came
to dispose of an extra large catch. Now and
then we were partners for a little time, so that
we knew them well. John and I. the two
r
younger brothers, were frequently thrown to
gether. I should like to say a word about John ben
78

ANDREW
Zebedee. It has come to be common to speak
of him as "the beloved disciple," and that is the
term which he likes to hear applied to himself.
I believe he deserves it, but anyone who will
read the four stories of the life of Jesus that
have already been written will see that the
first three of them give no hint that he was
lovable. He and James were both vehement
fellows, who well deserved to be called "Sons
of Thunder." They were forever wanting to
call' down fire and brimstone on somebody.
They were second or third cousins of Je
sus and had influential friends in Jeru
salem, and their father, Zebedee, had pros
pered in the fishing business. Beside this they
had an ambitious mother, Salome, the wife of
Zebedee. She was forever pushing them for
ward and ithey were quite willing to be pushed.
The rest of the twelve were moved with indig
nation more than, once when they saw how she
was seeking selfishly some advantage for her
two boys and how ready they were to accept
their mother's intermeddling. John was no fa
vourite among the disciples, as anyone can see
who reads the story as it is written by Matthew
or Mark or Luke. It is only John himself who
tells that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved,
but he tells it truly. I think Jesus discovered
in him from the beginning something that was
79

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
capable of being made not only lovable but lov
ing. I have often wished I knew what it was
that Jesus saw in me that made Him wish to
have me follow Him. My brother Simon and
my associate John both became distinguished in
the apostolic group and I am hardly more than
a name there. It is not wholly a thing to give
one pleasure, this of being associated always
with men in whose shadow one must be lost to
sight. All my life I have been accustomed to
being over-shadowed by Simon; but now it has
come to pass also that John ben Zebedee, that
rough, hot-tempered, ambitious, young son of
Thunder, stands as far above me as my great
brother Simon, and what is more strange, he
won his distinction as an apostle of love.
I do not complain of this, but I never have
done anything to deserve it. I have been from
the first, yea, from before the first, a sincere
follower of Jesus.
I shall never forget that aftej^ioon in Febru
ary of which I have already spoken. After
John had pointed out Jesus we two young men
stood a moment wondering what to do next.
John had turned and went toward his hut in
the wilderness. Jesus went the other way, the
glory of the descending sun makfing a halo
around Him as he walked from us.- We stood
for a moment irresolute, then I began to follow,
80

ANDREW
and John ben Zebedee went with me. We walk
ed slowly at first and hardly knew that we were
following Him, but we quickened our pace un-
conspicuously and He turned apd spoke to us.
"What are you seeking?" he asked.
We did not know how to answer Him, for
we. did not know what we were seeking. There
was something in our hearts that impelled us
to follow Him, and we cpuld not have told in
words just what it was. We asked Him in
whose home He had lodging, and he invited us
to go with Him. So we stepped up beside Him,
John on the right hand and I on the left, and
we came to his lodging a little way back from
the Jordan.
I wish I could tell what we talked about that
wonderful evening. In very truth I cannot re
member. It seemed to me very wonderful and
my heart told me that I had found the Master
of my life.
But I 'could not help thinking as we sat
there together, "I must find Simon." So after
awhile I slipped out and left Jesus talking with
John while I went and found my brother and
brought him to Jesus.
After that it seemed as though I never could
get quite so near to Him as I wished to do, for
either Simon or John was closer, to Him. No
doubt they had the better right, and yet I like to
81

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
remember that my brave, warm-hearted brother
Simon found Jesus through my invitation.
This also I like to remember that I was fol
lowing Jesus before He called me, even before
that blessed moment when He turned around
and asked us what we wanted and whom we
were seeking I was a follower of Jesus. . From
that hour I have not ceased to be His follower.
This thought makes me happy when I remember
it. We left the Jordan on the next day. Before
we left Jesus called another disciple, a fellow
townsman of mine, named Philip. Philip had
a friend named Nathaniel whom he brought to
Jesus as I had brought my brother Andrew. I
have no doubt John would have found his
brother James in like manner if James had
been in Judea at the time, but James had re
mained in Bethsaida with his father Zebedee.
Virtually, however, Jesus found His first six dis
ciples all within twenty-four hours. There were
three pairs of us, myself and Simon, John and
later his brother James, my friend Philip and
his friend Nathaniel.
We started for Galilee. Jesus told us that His
reason for going at this time was that He had
been invited to a wedding at Cana. I could not
help wondering what John the Baptist would
think of that as a reason for leaving the work
82

ANDREW
which just then was going so prosperously.
John wanted help, yet he was not a man whom
it was easy to assist. He had his own ways of
Working and not every man could work easily
With him. I have often thought it was just as
Vvell that he and Jesus worked apart, for I do
not think their ways of working had very much
in common. Nevertheless, I think it was a dis
appointment to John that Jesus went away just
when He might have been of some help to John.
John had had an anxious time of it. The crowds
had wearied him and people had been insisting
that he should say whether he was the Christ
or not. He had told them that he was not the
Christ and had told me and John ben Zebedee
that Jesus was the Lamb of God. I am sure
he expected Jesus to stay and assume the re
sponsibility of that announcement, and I do
not think he would have considered a wedding a
sufficient reason for the departure of Jesus, but
John's ways and Jesus' ways were never alike.
John ben Zebedee has told the story of the
wedding at Cana, and it is not necessary for
me to repeat it. I have often thought, however,
that people have not adequately recognized the
significance of Jesus' first miracle. It was not
a work of healing, nor was it an effort to undo
the effects of sin. Jesus did it just to add to
the sum of human joy. It was not wrought
83

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
under any strain of desperate need. No one
was in any pain excepting the hostess who was
troubled because her hospitality might appear
stinted. That made Mary anxious, and she told
Jesus. The occasion seemed utterly trivial, yet
Jesus wrought his first miracle under those con
ditions. I hope I shall not seem irreverent if
I. say that it has always seemed to me that in
some respects that miracle more truly than any
other that Jesus ever wrought shows the true
character of his mission. He did' not come to
earth simply to make life bearable. He came
to augment every reasonable human joy.
There is another of the miracles of Jesus in
which I have a special right to be interested, for
I. think that I helped1 to make it possible. That
' is the one in which Jesus fed five thousand peo
ple. All four of the men who have told the
story of Jesus have written the account of this,
but here again it is the son of Zebedee who
relates most fully that part of the story in
which I have most reason to be interested. He
has told how Philip had calculated that if we
should spend all the money we had in the
treasury, about two hundred dollars, it would
hardly more than give each man a meager por
tion. He then tells this about me :
"One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's
i brother, saith unto Him, There is a lad here

ANDREW /
who hath five barley loaves and two fishes; but,
what are these among so many?"
That is a true statement, and I -do not feel
ashamed of it. There was need that Philip
should be calculating what could be done if we
spent our all and it was certainly a proper
thing that some one of the twelve disciples
should be looking around to find what food there
was in sight. There may have been more. I
have heard it said that the real miracle consisted
in this, that when the multitude saw Jesus di
viding the contents of that one basket they be
came ashamed of what they had been hoarding
and followed His example and so everyone was
fed. I do not know about this: I only know
that I was looking after the food supply and
that was all there was in sight and I brought
that boy to Jesus.
I got no glory out of the miracle; indeed, I
have been criticised for going around lifting the
lids of baskets and inquiring about other
people's business, but I maintain that what I
did was legitimate and important. However
the miracle was wrought, I have no reason to be
lieve that the boy and his basket would have
been found if I had not discovered them.
Concerning this miracle also I feel like say
ing that I do not think it has had all the weight
to which its character entitles it. It was in
85

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
some respects the largest of Jesus' miracles. It
touched more human lives than any other. It
was not called out by any stern necessity. Those
hungry people could all have gotten to some of
the little towns along the lake and there have
obtained food. They would have suffered some
little inconvenience, but none of them would
have died. Jesus fed them not because they
were starving to death, but just because they
were hungry. Hunger is not disease; hunger
is not sin; food is not medicine. I am very sure
that most people have not sufficiently considered
how largely the gospel makes its appeal to that
which is normal in human life.
Of course I know about Jesus' miracles of
healing, and I do not deny their importance,
but in a way it is not so important that one sick
man should be healed as that five thousand hun
gry people should be fed.
I think of these things often and I have this
feeling that people had admired and wondered
at the striking and unusual elements in the
ministry of Jesus and have not adequately con
sidered its normality.
Perhaps I should have felt differently about
some of the miracles if I had been closer to
them. It must be remembered that never after
the very first was I in the innermost circle.
When Jesus had to meet any special experience
86

ANDREW
He took with Him Peter, and the two sons of
Zebedee. All the other disciples resented this
and I had most reason of all to resent it, be
cause I had been first and my own brother,
whom I brought to Jesus, was taken into those
deeper experiences which I was not permitted
to share. Perhaps I am too practical and not
spiritually minded enough to have appreciated
all of them. This I know that there is a certain
disadvantage in being just outside. It sets one
to wondering and asking questions, which those
who are within do not seem to ask. Maybe that
is why the turning of water into wine and the
multiplying of the loaves seemed to me so sig
nificant. When these happened I was close by.
I have never been able to understand just
why it was that I was just outside the inner
circle. Anyone who will read the list of the
twelve apostles will see that it is made up of
three groups of four, and that in each of the
four groups except the first there is some varia
tion in order, but always the same name comes
first. The first group consisted of our two sets
of brothers, Simon and Andrew, James and
John. The next group was composed of Philip
and Nathaniel, Thomas and Matthew. The
third was comprised of James, the son of
Alphaeus, Thaddeus or Judas "not Iscariot,"
Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot. We were
87

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
not four groups of three each, but three groups
of four each, and each four again was divided
by two. In such a grouping, it would surely
have seemed inevitable that I should always
have been in the innermost circle, and not at
the outermost edge even of that. I should have
been Second in the innermost group. But it
was not so.
The first time J*sus manifested this discrimi
nation was at the raising of the daughter of
Jairus. We were all present when Jesus was
sent for, and all wanted to go with him, and
expected as a matter of course that it would be
so; "but He suffered no man to follow with
Him, save Peter and John and James the
brother of John." (Mark 5:37, Luke 8:51.) The
rest of us simply stood outside with the crowd
and waited to learn at second hand what oc-4
curred. The awe of the miracle so impressed
us that we forgot to be displeased at the time,
but we talked about it afterward, and none of
us liked it very well, and I had most reason of
all to resent it.
At the transfiguration, again, He took the
same three men with Him, and left the rest
of us below confronted by a task too great for
us. When He came down from the mountain,
He healed the epileptic boy, and we who had
been trying to heal him not only had to take the
88

ANDREW
blame of the failure, from which Peter and
James and John escaped, but we had no share
in the glory of the transfiguration. I am sure
that none of those three could have done any
better than we, and we did our best.
Again, on the night of His betrayal, He took
Peter and James and John with Him into the
middle of the garden, and left the rest of us,
eight in number, to watch near the gate. We
were all tired to death, and we slept, the first
three as well as the rest of us; and were all
ashamed of it afterward. But the three espe
cially chosen were no more alert than the rest
of us. That, was the thing that annoyed me,
and I may as well admit it. I was overlooked
on all the really important occasions. The inti
mate three were selected, not simply out of the
whole body of twelve, but out of the first group
of four, and I was the one invariably omitted,
and the other three did not behave any better
than I did. I felt somewhat hurt about it, and
I may as well admit it. I no longer think of
it with the feeling of resentment which I once
cherished, but I have never understood it very
well. And this is why I saw the ministry of
Jesus from a point just outside the inner
group. I was one of the first four, but I was
not one of the first three; and yet at the be
ginning I was one of the first two.
89

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
I am glad to remember that on one important
occasion near the end of His ministry, I was in
the innermost group. As Jesus was leaving
the temple on the afternoon of Tuesday just
before His crucifixion, we called His attention to
the greatness of the building, and He said that
the time was not far distant when the temple
was to be destroyed.
We talked about it as we climbed up the
slope of the Mount of Olives, and wondered
what , He meant. I was walking with my
brother, and we were joined by James and
John. They were debating what Jesus could
possibly have meant by that declaration. I
wondered why they, who saw more of Jesus
than any of the rest of us, did not ask Him
what He meant. So* I said to them,
"If you want to know, why do you not ask
Him?" They said, "Come With us, and let us ask
Him." So we went together, "Peter and James and
John and Andrew" (Mark 13:3) and asked
Him, "Tell us, when shall these things be,
and what shall be the sign when all these things
are about to be accomplished."
Then Jesus told us the terrible things which
are recorded in those stern chapters toward
the end of the Gospels. We trembled as He
90

ANDREW
spoke those words. 7 But toward the end, He
changed His manner and returned to His old
manner of speaking in parables, a thing He
had not done for some time, and He told us
the three parables of the Ten Virgins, the Tal
ents, and the Sheep and the Goats.
I have always been glad that I was one of
those who asked Him the question. The para
ble of the talents has always been very dear
to me. I have not as many talents as my
brother Simon, and perhaps not so many as
either of the sons of Zebedee; but I have used
my talents faithfully, and He said that I am
not to lose my reward.
All these memories come back to me nqw
when I am an old man and in prison on the
shores of the Black Sea. My life has been long
and my labours have been arduous and fruit
ful. If I have not been able to do such things
as my brother Simon did, at least I have been
a devoted follower of my Lord and I have
served Him with fidelity. Even in these regions
where I have spent my life and have been faith
ful to the end, my fame is eclipsed by the zeal
and organizing ability of one Saul who is called
Paulus. They say I am to be crucified; if so, I
shall ask this one favour, that I be not nailed to
the cross as Jesus was nailed and that the cross
91

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
be not like His, for I am not worthy to die as
my Lord died.
I have lived my life, I have borne my testi
mony and now I am writing the story as I sit
here in prison. I have no expectation that this
will be counted worthy to be received into the
collection of books that already are held in high
honour. It may even be neglected or forgotten
and my name among the twelve may be little
more than a name, but I know that I have
done my duty even though obscurely.
Of all the twelve apostles I only and Philip
had names from the Greek. His name signified
"the horseman": my name means "manly".
Names do not always truly denote the character
of those who bear them, but if nothing else is
remembered about Andrew, let this be remem
bered that from the first call of Jesus to the
end of His long ministry and even now as he
faces death, he has done his duty, like a man.

92

The Gospel According to JUDAS

John 12:1-8.
SIX days before the festival, Jesus came to Beth
any, where Lazarus stayed (whom Jesus had
raised from the dead). They gave a supper for him
there ; Martha waited on him, and Lazarus was among
those who reclined at table beside him. Then. Mary,
taking a pound of expensive perfume, real nard,
anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with
her hair, till the house was filled with the scent of
the perfume. One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot
(who was to betray him), said, "Why was not this
perfume sold for ten pounds, and the money given
to the poor?" (Not that he cared for the poor; he
said this because he was a thief and because he
carried the money-box and pilfered what was put in.)
Then said Jesus, "Let her alone, let her keep what
she has for the day of my burial. You have always
the poor beside you, but you have not always me."

John 13:21-30.
On saying this Jesus was disquieted in spirit: he
testified and said, "Truly, truly I tell you, one of
you will betray me." The disciples looked at each
other, at a loss to know which of them he meant.
As one of his disciples was reclining on his breast —
he was the favourite of Jesus — Peter nodded to him,
saying, "Tell us who he means " The disciple just
leant back on the breast of Jesus and said, "Lord,
who is it?" Jesus answered, "The man I am going
95

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
to give this piece of bread to, wHen I dip it in the
dish." Then he took the piece of bread, dipped it,
and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot; and
when he took the bread, at that moment Satan en
tered him. Then Jesus told him, "Be quick with
what you have to do." (None of those at table un
derstood why he said this to him; some of them
thought that as Judas kept the money-box, Jesus
, told him to buy what they needed, for the festival or
to give something to the poor.) So Judas went out
immediately after taking the bread. And it was
night.

Matthew 26:47-50.
While he was still speaking, up came Judas, one
of the twelve, accompanied by a large mob with
swords and clubs who had come from the high priests
and the elders of the people. Now his betrayer had
given them a signal; he said, "Whoever I kiss, that
is the man." So he went up at once to Jesus; "Hail,
rabbi!" he said, and kissed him. Jesus said, "My
man, do your errand." Then they laid hands on
Jesus and seized him.

Matthew 27:1-10.
When morning came, all the high priests and the
elders of the people took counsel against Jesus, so as
to have him put to death. After binding him, they
led him off and handed him over to Pontius Pilate
the governor.
Then Judas his betrayer saw he was condemned,
and repented; he brought back the thirty silver pieces
96

JUDAS
to the high priests and elders, saying, "I did wrong
in betraying innocent blood." "What does that mat
ter to us?" they said, "it is your affair, not ours!"
Then he flung down the silver pieces in the temple
and went off and hung himself. The high priests
took the money and said. "It would be wrong to
put this into the treasury, for it is the price of
blood." So after consulting they bought with it the
Potter's Field, to serve as a burying-place for
strangers. That is why the field is called to this
day "The Field of Blood." Then the word spoken
by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: and I took
the thirty silver pieces, the price of him who had been
priced, whom they had priced and expelled from the
sons of Israel; and I gave them for the potter's field,
as the Lord had bidden me.

97

Ill
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JUDAS.
Written Saturday, the day following the Crucifixion.
I do not write to excuse myself. I know full
well that I have sinned beyond the possibility
of pardon here on earth and I know not if it be
possible in the mercy of God that I shall have
forgiveness in heaven. I am not writing with
any thought that I shall be able to set aside
or even greatly to modify, the merciless judg
ment which coming generations must pronuonce
against me ; nor can any condemnation by whom
soever uttered surpass that of my own con
science. I have betrayed the innocent blood. I
have seen Him hanging on a tree whom I had
chosen as my leader and Lord and whom I be
lieved to be the noblest and best of men, and
I know that largely it was my fault. I am
little concerned with the judgment of history
upon me, knowing as I do that I am under the
righteous condemnation of God and the bitter
reproach of my own conscience. The thirty
99

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
pieces of silver, until yesterday in my posses
sion, are a mill-stone round my neck, which it
seems must drag me to the bottom of the abyss.
My lips ere blistered with the memories of the
treasonable kiss I gave Him. Life has become
unbearable. If I do not die of remorse I shall
surely take my own life. Great would be my
joy this minute if I could feel myself nailed, not
to His cross, for I am not worthy of that honour,
but to the cross of one of the two robbers who
were crucified beside Him. Neither of them
was so base as I. Think not that I write to
excuse myself. All that I write and all that
anyone else will ever write will serve only to
increase my condemnation.
Nevertheless there are some things which
ought to be said, not in apology for me, but as
tgiving from a different point of view an account
of the ministry of Jesus. I am sure that none
of the other disciples will ever do this as I
think it should be done, even if men so illiterate
should ever write their recollections of the min
istry of Jesus. If I write at any point in crit
icism of them, or any of them, let it not be
thought that I am seeking to exonerate myself.
I was born in Judah; my very name Judas
is the glorious name of Judah, with the Greek
ending. It meant in the language of our
fathers, "One who deserves to be praised." It
100

JUDAS
is more than an honourable name; it is a glori
ous name. It is the name of the "Lion Tribe."
It is the name of the most noble and illustrious
of all the twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus him
self traced his birth through this tribe. Ten
of His disciples were Galileans: Simon the
Zealot and I shared with Jesus the honour of
descent from Judah. Simon and I were born
in Judah and I was named for that most stal
wart of the sons of our father Jacob.
We two were born in Judah, Simon and I,
and we two are mentioned last in the lists of
the apostles. We who came from the proudest
of the tribes had this perpetually to irritate us,
that we were looked upon as having hardly any
right even to a place among Galileans. When
ever people asked how many apostles Jesus had
and what were their names, the lists always be
gan with Simon Peter and Andrew his brother,-
and the next names were those of the two sons
of Zebedee. Then after all the rest, most of them
commonplace and insignificant men, came the
two names from the one really great tribe, the
names of Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot.
I know very well that I had no right to even
the lowliest place among the disciples of our
blessed Lord. I am not deserving of even the
least of the honours that came to me in the
months of my association with Him. Neverthe-
101

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
less, it is not a light thing to a proud man, a
man who is justly proud of his birth and social
position, that in every compilation of a list of
names of men with whom he is associated, the
names of fishermen and publicans should stand
above his own. I know that in intellect and
training and business ability and knowledge of
the world I was their superior. If scholars in
the future shall examine the records with care
they will find some readings in which I am
spoken of as the "first," or "chief," among the
disciples. I will not pretend that I ever de
served any such title, and I am confident that
no one will be deceived by any such fortuitous
survival of an incidental record. Nevertheless,
there have been those who were in no wise par
tial to me who did not hesitate to say that in
family prestige, native ability and education,
I was not behind the very chief of the apostles.
Certainly I must have had some abilities which
they all recognized, or I never should have been
chosen as treasurer, nor should I have been re
tained in that positiqn for months after rumours
had come into circulation that I was pilfering
from the treasury. Whether these reports were
true or false I shall consider later. I am speak
ing now of my position as a member of the
apostolic group. It was an uncomfortable posi
tion from the start, and if in any degree it
102

JUDAS
was my fault, that fault was not wholly mine.
I wonder if anyone -would believe me when
I say that my motives in becoming a follower
of Jesus were not wholly bad. My character
had in it traits enough that were and are un
lovely, but I was sincere in my love for my
' country. The traditions of the old days, when
Israel had a name and a place among the na
tions, and Judah was chief among the tribes,
were very precious to me. From boyhood I was
thrilled when I heard about them. I longed
for an opportunity to show my devotion to that
which had made my nation great. Does anyone
suppose that I joined the society of Jesus for
the mere sake of the little money which I might
possibly be able to filch from the bag? They
underrate my ability as a thief, to say the
least. I could have found more, profitable
places to win confidence and betray it for the
reward of money. The love of money was
strong in me, but had that been my only motive
it would have kept me away from the company
of that little band of fishermen with the paltry
contents of their small treasury. . I believed
myself a patriot and had some reason for this
opinion. I had no real" associate in the apostolic group,
excepting Simon, the Cananasan. He was a
patriot, and fought with Judas of Gamala, who
103

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
headed the opposition to the census of Quirinius.
He bitterly resented the domination of Rome
and contested with the sword every assumed
right of aggression. He risked his life for the
glory of Israel when the other disciples of Jesus
were quietly fishing in the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus Himself said that no man had greater
love than he who laid down his life for his
friends; Simon the Zealot put his life in peril
for the principles of the Kingdom of God and
he was the only man among them who had ever
risked anything for the sake of the kingdom.
I was not a soldier like Simon, but I was
a Judean as he was. I loved my country as
he did; I associated myself with Jesus from
the same motive that carried him into that un^
congenial group. I gave up a better home than
most of the apostles and better worldly prospects
and business opportunity, but my name always
appeared at the end of the list, and Simon
came next to the bottom, he who had risked the
most. The apostolic group was made up of cliques.
Simon Peter and the two sons of Zebedee be
came a kind of self-appointed committee, to
whom should be entrusted all the innermost con
fidences of the company. Matthew the publican
had no large group of friends among the
apostles, but he was popular outside with peo-
104

JUDAS
pie of his own rank, and that gave to him a
kind of prestige, even though in some respects
it was one of doubtful honour. The whole group
of Galileans nagged and annoyed me. They
who came from that province, whose blood was
mixed with that of the Gentiles, that province
utterly unknown by name in the days of our
national glory, looked upon us who came from
Judah with unremitting jealousy and never
ceased to snub us.
I know it may seem unworthy to mention
this and things like this, and these are indeed
things insignificant in comparison with my own
great sin; but at least it can do no harm that
men should know that my position has been
one of constant discomfort.
If ever any of the disciples of Jesus should
tell the story of his ministry, they would be
compelled to tell how again and again the dis
ciples quarrelled among themselves as to who
should be the greatest among them. It hap
pened over and over. Jesus rebuked it once by
calling a little child and saying that he was
greatest in the kingdom. We all understood
what that meant, but that was not the end of
the matter. Jesus had this in mind when He
said to us, "See that ye fall not out by the
way." Whenever our minds were free from
pressing cares, that was the question that came
105

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
up. I was ambitious and so was Simon; so
Were all the rest. James and John were in
sufferable in their ambition. Only a few days
ago, as we were approaching Jerusalem, their
mother, Salome, came to Jesus and they with
her, begging Jesus that .they might sit the one
on His right hand and the other on His left
in His kingdom. I will not deny that Simon
and I coveted those places for ourselves, but
we had better sense than to get our mothers to
tease Him to give them to us. If I was any
more ambitious than the others I think, I may
say that it was because I was more intelligent.
They had come to Jesus from his own neigh
bourhood, from the viciriity of Capernaum,
where He had established His residence. They
did not at the outset look on their discipleship as
involving their permanent leaving of home to
be with Him, but when I turned my back on
my home in Judea I knew that it meant some
thing like a permanent departure from my life
long associations. I was ambitious; of course
I was ambitious. I believed that Jesus was to
establish a kingdom and that He would choose
as His foremost officials those who from the
beginning of His ministry had left their homes
and become His followers. I believed that I
had something that I could contribute to the
movement and that I should deserve both recog-
106

JUDAS
nition and reward. If this was sinful it was *
sin which I shared with all the other disciples,.
and I am sure that I could not have exhibited
it any more hatefully than did the men from
Galilee. Those Galileans had mostly known each other
before. They were brothers or cousins or part
ners one of another, holding their common in
terest against outsiders, like Simon and me,.
but still jealous of each other. Unlike Simon
and myself they had no large idea of sacrifice-
in coming to Jesus. They measured their sacri
fice in terms of lost time from their fishing,.
but Simon measured it in terms of danger which
he had encountered and I measured it in terms
of possible bloodshed. Simon and I were con
sistent revolutionists. If the kingdom ever-
came it must come by the overthrow of Rome.
If Rome was overthrown it must be by military
force. Inasmuch as a little country like ours
could never hope to rally an army great enough
to stand against Rome, I knew that there must
be favourable circumstance, either political or
supernatural. I came to Jesus because I be
lieved He had the power to rally men to Him
and to organise them into a successful army of
resistance against Rome. If we could begin a
revolution in our own country, we might hope
that we could rout the local Roman guards and!
107

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
hold our territory successfully against forces
that Rome could immediately send for our sub
jection. Let me confess that I never really loved
Jesus. It was not affection for Him that drew
me to Him. On the contrary, there was in
Him that which made me ill at ease. I felt
that He was able to read my character as no
other man. In His presence I felt a sense of
self-reproach such as no one else ever gave
me; but if I did not love Him, I admired Him
and was willing to follow Him; for I loved
the kingdom, which He preached.
I have said that I am not seeking to justify
myself. I realise that what I am saying may
seem to contradict that statement. I do not
ifitend to do anything that can truthfully be
called self- justification, but I want to make it
plain that my coming to Jesus was not wholly
the result of evil motives. I have said that
Simon and I were consistent revolutionists.
Jesus knew this when He accepted us as dis
ciples. He knew that Simon had fought with
the sword against the Romans and that I, a
Judean, had come into His Galilean company
because of my very strong sympathy with our
national hope. I still think that we ought not
to be too severely blamed for not understand
ing Jesus better in this particular. How could
108

JUDAS
we have been expected to know what Jesus
meant when He talked about the Kingdom of
Heaven? He knew what meaning we gave to
that term. If He chose to give it a new mean
ing, how could we be expected to know it?
He was continually putting new wine into old
wine-skins till the wine-skins burst. Was
David's kingdom wholly a spiritual kingdom?
Was the kingdom of God as the Psalmists sang
of it akingdom wholly of the soul? Did they
not tell of the Messiah coming to break the na-
tioris into pieces like a potter's vessel? Was
the kingdom of God which the prophets pron*-
ised us entirely a matter of spiritual comfort?
Did tjiey not see the Messiah coming from
Edom with garments dripping and spattered
with the blood of the enemies of Jehovah ? How
was I to be blamed for an idea of the kingdom
which I learned from the holy prophets ? John
the Baptist believed in the kingdom not very
different from that in which I believed. And so
did the other apostles of the Lord.
I think perhaps my view of the Kingdom of
God was more definite than that of most of the
other disciples because I had thought more about
it ; and for this reason it may have been harder
for me than it would have been for them to
believe that the Kingdom of Heaven is within,
but none of them ever came to realise that.
109

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
even up to the hour when Jesus was crucified.
I have spoken of a sense of self-reproach
which I felt in the presence of Jesus. One
time He addressed us and said, "Have I not
chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil."
At first I could not believe that He meant me.
Yet there was something in the word which
caused my heart to sink within me. I felt that
He knew that while the others had come to
Him as full of wrong ideas as I, they had come
with a more genuine affection. When the poor
woman of the street washed His feet with her
tears and wiped them with her hair and He
forgave her all her sins for the greatness of
her love, I felt that love such as hers was some
thing in which T could have no share. My
devotion had been of a calculating sort. I
had reckoned with more of deliberation than
the other disciples on the substantial rewards of
the kingdom.
I have been accused of stealing. Yesterday
I would have resented the charge. To-day I
confess it, for it seems to me a small sin com
pared with that which now I have committed
and must shamefully confess. From time to
time I took money from the common purse. But
I was suspected of stealing a long while before
I stole, and I think suspicion made it easier
for me to be a thief. I am by nature a covetous
110

JUDAS
man, yet for a long time I -knew of these sus
picions and did not steal. Latterly I have
stolen, whether more or less than they suspect
I cannot tell.
John, the son of Zebedee, never liked me. I
have never heard of his saying a gracious word
about me. I have been told that he has at
tributed to me the discontent among the dis
ciples last Friday night, when Mary of Bethany
broke her bottle of perfume and poured it upon
His head. I did complain. So did all the
others. It seemed to me the most extravagarit
thing I had ever witnessed. That perfume rep
resented a working man's wages for a year.
We had been living none too abundantly, and
here was opportunity to replenish our own
treasury for the stern days ahead of us, or to
make a notable gift to the poor, who at the
time of the feast are thick as flies in Jerusalem.
There has been no incident in all the ministry
of Jesus, which seems to me more incompre
hensible than his willingness to have so much
money wasted upon Him for the satisfaction
of a single hour. I confess that I protested,
and so did all the others. Indeed, it was that
very incident which threw me into such a pas-
sion that I began to consider for myself how
I could turn our situation into financial ' ad
vantage. So I went to the High Priest, and I
111

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
earned those thirty pieces of silver to my ever
lasting shame.
But while covetousness has been with me a
lifelong fault, and this money adds to the black
ness of my sin, it was not solely for money that
I proved false to Jesus. That became the
occasion of my crime, but the causes lay deeper.
I betrayed Jesus. I confess it to my ever
lasting shame. I plead no excuse, yet with
it all I did not mean to murder Him. It never
occurred to me that such a result would follow
the information which I gave to the priests.
They were anxious to arrest Jesus at a time
when He could be taken into custody without
raising a popular disturbance. They dared not
arrest Him while He was speaking in the temple.
They undertook to do this last October, when
He was in the city at the Feast of Tabernacles.
The officers of the law came back without Him.
They were overawed by the people and half
converted by the words they heard Him speak.
Spies had been watching the home of Lazarus
where Jesus went every night. Jesus made a
secret arrangement for a place to eat the Pass
over Supper and I felt sure that after that He
would be likely to go to some other place than
to the home of Lazarus. I thought the olive
orchard, Gethsemane, was where He would be
likely to go and spend the rest of that moon-
112

JUDAS
light night. I told the priests of this prob
ability and offered to be their guide.
But I did not mean to murder Him. I be
lieved that He had grown timid. He had never
used His mighty power for His own protection.
I believed that I could force Him to do so. On
Sunday morning He had ridden into Jerusalem
in triumph, and our hearts leaped for joy as
we saw Him thus proclaiming Himself the Mes
siah. ' But after that He seemed more cautious.
The days were slipping by, and He was not
asserting Himself. He left the Temple Tues
day evening with no indication that He intended
to return.
This seemed to me an appalling situation.
We had come to Jerusalem, menaced by a great
danger and inspired by high ardour. Sunday
and Monday everything went His way. He
drove the money changers from the Temple and
no man dared lay hands on Him, but all day
Tuesday He fought a losing battle, and when
He left the Temple in the afternoon I realised
that the end had come unless we could rouse
Him to some new act of self-assertion.
How could I force Him to utilise the power
which He possessed? All day Wednesday He
hid in Bethany. On Thursday He made His
secret arrangements for the eating of the Pass
over and afterward hid in the orchard. To
113

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
guide the soldiers to His place of hiding would
be to force an issue. I was sure that He would
rise to the emergency. I said to myself that
in a way my betrayal was vthe expression of my
faith. When Jesus went up to Jerusalem, I,
in common with all the others, thought He would
be killed. When Thomas said, "Let us go witli
Him that we also may die with Him," my heart
responded to the suggestion, but I soon began
-calculating how if the situation should become
as serious as that I could at least save my own
person free from harm. But when I saw His
courage and the rising enthusiasm of the people
I thought I had begun to understand the. motive
of Jesus. He had been farther sighted than
I had. He had repressed us until He saw that
the time was ripe. Now He was asserting Him
self. We forgot that we had started to die
with Him and resumed our discussion, as to who
should be the greatest. I began to say to my
self that I was the best business man in the
¦company; that my buying at wholesale had
saved Jesus and the disciples a good deal of
money and that I was entitled to a commission
on my purchases. When I saw Him indulging
in what I thought reckless extravagance, I saw
no reason why I should continue to practice
petty economies. S6 I became a thief; rather
I will say, I manifested the fact that I already
114

JUDAS
was a thief. But I was not solely a thief. I
was a man of good business ability whose talents
were under-rated and who turned a passing
Occasion to commercial advantage.
I a-^d in covetousness, but far more in re
sentment. It was my opportunity to vent my
long cheristi_ 1 hostility toward the whole crowd
of the Galileans, but I never though that Jesus
would die.
On that last night my heart warmed to Jesus
an an act which I understood to be one of ap
preciation. I had the seat of honour at the
table. I was next to Jesus, and when He
dipped the sop He gave it to me in token of
friendship. Yet somehow that very act had in
it a quality which I resented. I felt that He
read my character and knew my lack of love
for Him and realised that He could not trust
me. His very kindness turned in my soul to
bitterness and it seemed as though the spirit
of evil grew more definitely personal within
me at that very moment.
My shame grows deep when I remember the
sign by which I betrayed- Him. I kissed Him.
ll agreed with the priests upon this as the token
pf betrayal. From that hour until now my
Jips haye burned as though they were -hot coals
Sri the memory of that shameful act. And now
as I look back upon it my shame grows greater
115

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
as I see that this possibility had long been
inherent in my lack of love, my covetousness,
my sinful and selfish and sordid spirit. And
the worst of all is the memory of the kiss I
gave Him.
I stood aside after the kiss and wpited for
Jesus to manifest His divine power, i thought
He would summori twelve legions of angels. I
thought they Would smite down the guard and
that Jesus would return in triumph to the
Temple. I thought that He would proclaim
himself king and drive the Roman soldiers from
the city. I had a vision of the blessing it would
bring to the people of Jehovah. Our people
were perishing under oppression; their national
hope was dying, and the religion was losing its
hold upon their lives. I thought of Judas Mac-
cabaeus, for whom I was named. He was a
mighty deliverer of the people of God, and
Jesus was mightier than he. I had looked upon
the misery of my people and my heart waxed
hot. I calculated the greatness of the power of
Jesus and I dared even to fancy that He would
thank me when all was over that I had forced
Him into a position where He would use that
power, assert His Messiahship and deliver His
people. Then I thought we should see who is
the greatest in His kingdom. I said within
myself, "The greatest of the apostles will not
116

JUDAS
be any of those Galileans who smell of fish;
it will be I, Judas, of the royal tribe, the man
of affairs and business experience. I shall be
recognised as having brought in the kingdom."
Alas ! No legion of angels came. The mob
bound Him and led Him away. They jeered
Him and they scoffed at Him; they blindfolded
Him and mocked Him, and'all the mighty power
which I expected Him to use remained quiescent.
If He had it He did not use it. He saved
i
others; Himself He could not save.
They brought Him before Pilate, and He
was condemned to die. They led Him forth
beyond the wall of the city and crucified Him
and with Him two robbers. Would that one
of them had been I.
And now He is dead, and the world has lost
Him who might have been its Saviour had I
not betrayed Him. I with my covetousness and
resentment and pride and selfish patriotism, I
delivered Him to be crucified. I betrayed Him
with a kiss. I sold Him for thirty pieces of
silver. Thank God I did not -keep the money. While
yet He was hanging on the cross I hastened to
the Temple and offered it back to the priests.
They would not take the money. They shrugged
their shohlders when I proffered it and said
I had earned it and it was no further concern
117

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
of theirs. When I cried out in agony of soul
that I had betrayed the innocent blood, they
said, "That is your own affair and no concern
of ours." I flung it on the floor and came away.
A little while later I went back and I heard
them talking among themselves as to what they
would do with it. ¦ They had—been bargaining
with an old man, a potter, for a piece of ground
to use as a burial place for the poor. It was
good for nothing else. He had dug off all the
soil to get at the clay for use in his business.
They had driven a hard bargain with him and
had an option on the property for thirty pieces
of silver. The money which I received for the
betrayal of Jesus was just enough to buy this1
scarred and sterile tract, with hardly enough
of soil left upon it to provide graves for the
outcast and the stranger. Let me be the first
to lie in it. Let me go thither and see if there
be in it a tree where I may hang myself and
there be buried among the paupers and the out
cast. ,
I cannot live with the memory of my guilt
and the consciousness of my shame, yet before I
die let me leave this record that He to whom I
came under the impulse of the glad hope that
He should redeem Israel seems to me still to
have been the noblest and the greatest of men.
What He meant by the Kingdom of God I do
118

JUDAS
not know, and I am a stranger to love such as
He taught and manifested. But in Him I have
seen the power and compassion and the grace
of God, and in Him have I beheld the power
and the glory of God, which I hoped would be
for the redemption of Israel.
Can it be that the redemption is larger than
I have dared to hope ? May it be that after all
His kingdom is coming as He said, not with
observation but as a spiritual power that is to
transform the world? I do not know. I can
not understand. I cannot even think. Behind
me is the mocking memory of lost opportunities.
Within me are the tortures of a soul self -con
demned and to be condemned by all coming gen
erations of mankind. Before me is the black
ness and hopelessness of death.
But might it be that His love, which is unto
the uttermost, could forgive even me? I must
not presume upon such great mercy. Let me
fall into the hands of God and not into the
hands of man. I heard His word to the penitent
robber upon the cross, for I was hiding near.
I longed to run and hide my face at His feet
and plead for His forgiveness, but I knew I
was not worthy. I know His love can save
even unto the uttermost, and I wonder if in the
life beyond there may be, for me one faintest
gleam of hope. I do not know. Alas! I do
not know. 119

The Gospel According to JAMES

Matthew 13:57-58.
NOW when Jesus had finished these parables Ik
set out from there, and went to his native place,
where he taught the people in the synagogue till they
were astounded. They said, "Where did he get this
wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is this not
the son of the joiner? Is not his mother called Mary,
and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and
Judas? Are not his sisters settled here among us?
Then where has he got all this?" So they were re
pelled by him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet
never goes without honour except in his native place
and in his home." There he could not do many mir
acles owing to their lack of faith.
Matthew 12:46-50.
He was still speaking to the crowd when his mother
and brothers came and stood outside; they wanted
to speak to him. But he replied to the man who
told him this, "Who is my mother? and who are
my brothers?" Stretching out his hand towards his
disciples he said, "Here are my mother and my
brothers! Whoever does the will of my Father in
heaven, that is my brother and sister and mother."
John 7:1-10.
After this Jesus moved about in Galilee; he would
not move in Judaea, because the Jews were trying
to kill him. 123

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
Now the Jewish festival of booths was near, so
his brothers said to him, "Leave this and go across
into Judaea, to let your disciples witness what you
can do; for nobody who aims at public recognition
ever keeps his actions secret. Since you can do these
deeds, display yourself to the world" (for even his
brothers did not believe in him). Jesus said to
them, "My time has not come yet, but your time is
always at hand; the world cannot hate you, but it
hates me because I testify that its deeds are evil.
Go up to the festival yourself; I am not going up
to this festival, for my time has not arrived yet."
So saying he stayed on in Galilee. But after his
brothers had gone up to the festival, he went up
too.

1 Corinthians 15:1-8.
Now, brothers, I would have you know the gospel
I once preached to you, the gospel you received, the
gospel in which you have your footing, the gospel by
which you are saved — provided you adhere to my
statement of it — unless indeed your faith was all
haphazard. First and foremost, I passed on to you what I
had myself received, namely, that Christ died for
our sins as the scriptures had said, that he was
buried, that he rose on the third day as the scriptures
had said, and that he was seen by Cephas, then by
the twelve; after that, he was seen by over five
hundred brothers all at once, the majority of whom
survive to this day, though some have died; after
that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles,
and finally he was seen by myself, by this so-called
"abortion" of an apostle. 124

JAMES
Galatians 1:15-19.
But the God who had set me apart from my very
birth called me by his grace, and when he chose to
reveal his Son to me, that I might preach him to the
Gentiles, instead of consulting with any human be
ing, instead of going up to Jerusalem to see those
who had been apostles before me, I went off at
once to Arabia, and on my return I came back to
Damascus. Then, after three years, I went up to
Jerusalem to make the acquaintance of Cephas. I
stayed' a fortnight with him. I saw no other apostle,
only James the brother of the Lord,

125

IV
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JAMES

Written A.D. 47, shortly after the Jerusalem Council
as described in Acts 15.

IT has been said to me repeatedly that I, of
all men living, am most competent to write
the life story of Jesus of Nazareth. There
have been times when I have felt disposed to
share this opinion. I knew Him from my
cradle; the same roof sheltered us for nearly
thirty years. He was my daily playmate in
childhood, my companion in the village school
and at the carpenter's bench. We ate of the
same food; we drank out of the same cup; we
slept in the same bed. All through the days of
our boyhood we lived together, studied together,
played together and worked together. In these
later years I have come to be honoured as the
head of the church in Jerusalem, and in this
central position have had official opportunity
such as perhaps no other man has had of meet-4
ing those who were associated with Him in
127

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
the years of His public ministry. The material
at my disposal is abundant, but I have never
felt that I could write the story of His life.
Up to the present time, no one has done that.
Several people have collected brief quotations
from His preaching, and I am told that two
of those who were associated with Him, and
perhaps others beside them, are gathering ma
terials for biographical sketches. So far as
knowledge of the facts of His first thirty years
is involved in such an undertaking, my oppor
tunities are better than those of any other man;
and while I was not with Him in the years of
His ministry, I have obtained knowledge of the
facts from those who knew them best. But
I do not think I shall ever write the story of
His life.
I plan to write a letter some time telling
what I believe about faith and works, particu
larly as this doctrine relates itself to some
things in the preaching of Paul. So far as I
have any plan to write this letter is all that I
now contemplate. I shall find opportunity to
express my view of a number of practical topics,
but I do not think I shall go deeply into ques
tions of doctrine, except on this one point. As7
for the rest, I am writing this brief sketch
largely to refresh my own memory of the
strange events of the years of my life in their
128

JAMES
relation to the life of Jesus of Nazareth, my
brother. I am now just forty-eight years old, two
years younger than He would have been had
He lived. I wonder how He would have looked
if He had lived to be fifty years of age. His
hair would begin to turn grey, as mine has be
gun, and He perhaps would begin to walk with
a little less of elasticity in His step. He was
so young when He died, so full of vigor, so
erect, so buoyant. It is not easy for me to
think how He would have looked at fifty. I
measure His age by my own. It is harder for
me to think of Him as other than youthful be
cause I saw little of Him in His last three
years. During that period He grew out of
my knowledge, so I remember Him as wearing
the crown of youth undimmed by the increase
of years.
We were a family of ten; Joseph, my noble
father ; Mary, my beloved and beautiful mother ;
besides five sons and three daughters. Our
parents had been very careful to bring us up
with high regard for the law. They named
the five sons, Joshua, or as we pronounced it
according to the Gentile usage, Jesus; Jacob,
or as the Gentiles speak it, James; Joseph,
Simeon or Simon, and Judas, which is another
way of spelling Judah, the name of the royal
129

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
tribe from which we trace our descent, the tribe
of the great king David. All these names were
carefully chosen out of our ancient law. Our
father and mother were zealous keepers of the
law in all its details. My mother had a fine
mind, a poetic gift and a deep love of the liter
ature of our noted men. There is a song of
hers, which has been preserved, beginning:
"My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour."
It shows the quality of her mind and the
beauty of her literary style, for" she was gifted
as few women are gifted. My father, Joseph,
was a carpenter by trade, and that is an honour
able calling, but he was much more than a car
penter. He was a high-minded gentleman,
capable and resolute. He was sometimes called,
"The Just," and I count it a high honour that
some have applied this term to me, his son.
I have heard the story of how he took my mother
and her first born son to Egypt, thereby de
feating the efforts of the king to destroy the
child. Few men would have shown such resolu
tion, such capacity for swift and accurate judg
ment, such ability to provide support for him
self and his family in a foreign country and
through all the following years such nobility
of soul that the boyhood memory of Jesus gave
130

JAMES
<colour to his thinking when He taught men to
pray to God and call Him, "Our Father." There
is a story gaining some currency that Joseph
was much older than my mother, and that he
was her protector, but never really her husband,
and that we children, other than Jesus, were the
children of a previous marriage. That is not
true. He was but little older than my mother
and of a suitable age to be her lover and her
husband. Their life together was one of mutual
confidence and affection.
Upon me as the second son fell the burden
of responsibility for the household, which should
have belonged to Jesus in the later years of
his boyhood, but which was lightened for Him
in order that He might have more time for
study. To Him accrued all the hbnour belong
ing to the first son and more. My mother re
garded Him with a special favour which she
took no pains to disguise. My father held
Him in sincere affection, but I cannot help
thinking that he stood in a certain sense in awe
of Him. From our earliest childhood there was
recognition that Jesus deserved special con
sideration. His family has been criticised, and
with some measure of justice, because we were
not at first ready to believe on Him. I accept
with deep sorrow my own. share of responsibility
for this. I was jealous of Him, resentful of His
131

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
special privileges, disinclined to think Him any
better than His brothers and sisters. It grieves
me now when I remember that it was written
of me and of my three brothers, "Neither did
His brethren believe on Him."
But if His family deserves to be chided for
its unbelief, there is a sense in which it should
receive credit for that special consideration
which was given Him through all the
years of His youth. From the time when my
father gave up his home and his business to
take Him to Egypt, the family was always
finding some special way in which to show its
sense of high regard for Him and of obliga
tion to assist in His career. Jesus learned my
father's trade and worked at it. After my
father's death, which occurred in the first years
of our young manhood, He was for a time the
principal bread-winner of the family; never
theless it was always understood that He was to
study to be a rabbi, or a teacher; and we all
helped to make that possible.
I have often been asked whether Jesus in
His boyhood showed any sign from which he
could infer that He was different from other
boys. To this I answer that as I look back I
can recall some inoidents from which it is
easy to infer that He was always superior to
other lads. But there was nothing which at
132

JAMES
the time plainly indicated a marked difference.
He was an industrious boy, and when He worked
He worked hard. We hewed ouif timber for the
carpenter shop from the hills above Nazareth.
He had strong arms and could cut down a tree
with deep strokes of the axe, and when He
lifted it upon His shoulder to carry it home, it
was with a display of manly strength which it
was good to see. Those who have thought of
Him as delicate in health or feminine in bodily
or mental development are all wrong. There
was about Him a strong and fine virility, which
we all a'dmired. He was a fine playmate; He
always played fair; He never was jealous when
others had the advantage; He was always quick
to recognise merit in a contestant, but those who
contested either strength or skill against Him
had no easy task. He played with a genuine
love of healthful sport. There was only one
thing which made Him angry in play, and that
was so characteristic of Him that He used to
refer to it in His sermons. It was the selfish
spirit, which refuses to play unless the player
can have His own way. He used to say, "If
you want to dance I will pipe for you, and if
you want to play funerals I will howl with you,
but I have no use for a playmate who will not
play unless he is coaxed and petted and can
have his own way all the time." , He hated every
133

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
kind of sham; He played as He worked, with
ardour and a generous spirit. I remember the
time when He left home. We did not realise
that He was saying Good-bye. I have often
wondered how fully He Himself realised it. He
said that He wanted to go away for a rather
long vacation. He was going to hear John
preach, and He might stay several weeks. Our
mother charged Him,
"Don't forget to return in time for the wed
ding of our friends in Cana."
He promised her that He would surely re
turn in time for that. He wanted to please
her, and moreover, He enjoyed such occasions.
Our weddings are merry, even boisterous, events.
They last a week, and sometimes longer. It has
been a matter to which I have given much
thought, that all through the days of his fast
ing in the wilderness, the days in which He
was meeting with the mighty , problems that
came with the new revelation and adventure,
He was keeping in mind that engagement, and
He returned to Galilee in time for the wedding.
I am sure that people have not thought
-enough about this social side of the life
of Jesus. He dealt so much with sickness, with
sorrow and sin, it is not easy to remind ourselves
how He began His ministry on the plans of
people's normal life, and of His fine and inspir-
134

JAMES
ing companionship. We were all at that wed
ding, and were eager to hear from Jesus and
Simon and Andrew and Nathaniel and Philip
and John, all that they had to tell about their
experience at the Jordan. They told us much
during those days of the feast, for in this man
ner is news conveyed and discussed in com
munities- like ours. There was solemn discus
sion as to the real meaning of John's preach
ing, and who was to follow him and be the
Messiah; and there was also great mirth as
there always is at our weddings.
We did not know at the time that the men
who had come back with Him had really ac
cepted Him as the Messiah. I do not think
they quite understood the full import of what
they had done. John the Baptist had told two
of them that Jesus was the Lamb of God, and
they followed Him, and brought their friends.
They knew, that they had become His followers,,
but I do not think they expected at this time
that they were to leave their work and follow
Him. It was several months after this that He
called them from their boats and organised
them into a band of twelve. They did not talk
much about this when we met them at the wed
ding. He did not return with us to Nazareth,
but went with them to Capernaum. It was onljj
135

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
by degrees we realised the break that had come
between Him and His home.
I remember well His first return to Nazareth.
By that time He had become noted, and the vil
lage was eager to see Him. He returned in
the middle of the week, without previous an
nouncement, and spent a few days in the old
home. ,
It grieves me when I think of this visit. His
brothers resented it that He had been gone so
long, when work was pressing and that, return
ing, He did not take up His tools again. We
had been working hard while He had been away
on what seemed to us a very futile absence. It
was all very well to go away for a rest, and
listen to the preaching of John, but to be gone
for weeks that grew into months, and return
without any intention of going back to work,
angered us all. We were resentful, and were
curious as to what He intended to do. We had
seen His mighty work at Cana, and had heard
much of his preaching, and we were unsympa
thetic and hostile. I do not like to tell these
things, but they are true. We were not kind
to Him when He returned to His home.
It grieved our mother to witness our strained
relations, and she sought how she could mediate
between Jesus and His brothers. But in truth,
she was herself troubled by the change, and
136

JAMES
1
could not adjust herself to it. We all looked
forward to the Sabbath as the day which would
bring some development either for the better'
or worse.
During the intervening days, Jesus visited
some of the homes where people were sick. He
knew all these sick people. Some of them He
had known all His life. I believe He had'
come back desiring above almost anything else
to help those of His old neighbours whom He
knew to be in need. But His efforts failed. A
very few people said they felt better after He
had called, but most of them asked, "Is not this
the carpenter? Who taught Him to be a pro
phet or a rabbi? Is not this the son of Joseph,
and is not His mother's name Mary? And do
we not know His brothers, James and Simon
and Joseph and Judas? Why should He pre
tend to be any better than the rest of us ? He is
no rabbi! He is no prophet! Do not let Him
deceive you! He is only Joshua, the carpenter.
If you look at His hands, you will find the
calouses that were made by the hammer and the
saw. He shall not deceive us, for we know all
about Him."
There is no place more critical, more skep
tical, more lacking in readiness to believe any
thing great of one of its own citizens, than a
small town. It is not so in cities. There men
137

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
know that men can be great; they have seen
great men, and have known them as fellow-
citizens. But it is not so in a small town
that has never had any great1 men. The people
there have a comfortable contempt for any claim
that rises above mediocrity on the part of any
man whom they have actually known.
When the morning of the Sabbath came,"
He rose early, and walked among the hills about
Nazareth. I wonder if you know how beautiful
those hills can be. There grow the wild flowers
in profusion. I have seen the hillsides red with
poppies, and wonderfully spangled with all the
colours that God has given as raiment to the
flowers. Before He began to preach, I heard
Him say what later He put into His sermons,
"Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these."
He climbed among the flowers to a hill above
the village where one may look toward the east,
and behold the Sea of Galilee, with the hills
beyond Jordan; to the west, and the blue Medi
terranean with the headland of Mount Carmel
jutting out into the sea, and bearing high
above water and plain the scene of Elijah's
sacrifice; to the north, where one may discern
the snow-clad summit of Mount Hermon, and to
the south with the plain of Esdrsslon, whose rich
138

JAMES
soil is red with the blood of heroes through all
the centuries of Israel's history.
From there He came to the synagogue, which
was filled with his old neighbours, who should
have been His friends. But He had already
seen the skeptical looks, and heard the incredu
lous laugh of those who did not believe in Him.
He read the Scripture lesson that day. The
words were thrilling:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because He hath anointed me to preach good tidings
to the poor:
He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
We of His own household knew that He had
come to that Sabbath service out of a bitter ex
perience of disappointment. He had tried His
new power and it had failed to function. He
had laid His hands upon the sick in His own
town with indifferent results. A few claimed
to be better, but as for the rest, they acknowl
edged no benefit from His ministry. He had
felt His failure keenly. So far as I knew, this
was His first failure, and He was distressed
because of it. He failed just where He wished
most to succeed. He failed in His own town
where He knew the people best and loved them
most. He felt the chagrin of it, the reproach
139

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
of it. He knew just what people were saying
about it, how incredulous and unsympathetic
was their attitude, and He had a great desire to
vindicate His reputation and to do good in
His home community, but He had not succeeded.
And we of His own household had seen Him
fail and secretly had gloated over it. We were
pleased that He had not shown Himself superior
to the rest of us. So petty and mean was our
spirit, so unworthy our jealousy, we were not
sorry to see Him fail. It made us seem greater
in our own eyes that He had not shown Him
self as great as He was reputed to be.
I know that this is an unpleasant thing for
people who come after me to read ; let none sup
pose that it is easy to write. It shows us in
our least lovable aspect; it reveals our most un
gracious qualities. But it is true, and we sat
in the synagogue and heard Him read that pas
sage from the book of the prophet, and waited
for Him to speak, and we were hostile and
j ealous, and we did not wish Him to succeed.
He began to preach, and immediately we were
interested. His words were spoken in a tone
and manner that carried conviction. But the
interest wandered/ from His message to the
hope that He would work a miracle. People
were saying,
"Let us see whether the physician will heal
140

JAMES
himself, and this carpenter will prove a worker
of signs."
Jesus knew this feeling. He had felt through
out the days of His sojourn among us the im
possibility of His performing any worthy work
in His own town; for lack of faith forbade a
truly spiritual result, and He would not mani
fest His mighty power to satisfy curiosity. He
said: "No prophet is, -accepted in his own country.
There were many widows in Israel in the days
of Elijah, but unto none of them did he go, but
to a widow in the land of Sidon. There were
many lepers' living near to Elisha who were not
healed, but a man who had faith enough to
cause him to travel from Damascus was healed."
Then the people in the synagogue rose in
wrath, and dragged Him out of the pulpit,
and buffeted Him and cuffed Him and pushed
Him to the outside of the village^ and to the
brow of the Nazareth hill. But when they got
Him there, no one had quite courage to push
Him over. He turned and faced them all, and
calmly walked through the crowd, and returned
to Capernaum.
It grieves me to remember that the first buf-
fetings He received were from his old neigh
bours, and that His first outspoken critics were
the friends who had known Him longest; and
141

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
that He knew too well the meaning of His words
when He said that a man's foes should be they
of His own household. For thus did Nazareth
and His family reject Him when He first
came home. And that was why He left home
forever, and made his residence in Capernaum.
Rumours continually came to us of the great
work He was doing, but we were incredulous.
At length there came a day when we four
brothers of His persuaded Mary our mother
that it was our duty to go to Capernaum and
bring Him home and place Him in a mad-house.
For we verily believed that He had gone insane.
We could not gain entrance to the house where
He was speaking, so we sent word to Him ; but
He knew why we had come, and He refused to
come out. Nay, it breaks my heart to remem
ber that we drove Him to the necessity of
repudiating us publicly. He declared that He
had no brothers and no mother except those who
did the will of God. Mary, my mother, went
back to Nazareth weeping when she heard this,
and we her sons were ashamed that we had ex
posed her to this rebuke; but still we did not
love Him, nor believe in Him.
After a while we heard that the crowds had
left Him, and that He was shunning the society
of. people. He had withdrawn with His dis
ciples, and was keeping out of popular sight.
142

JAMES
My brothers and I were going to Jerusalem
to the Feast of Tabernacles, and we made a call
on Him. We taunted Him with hiding when
His business was to be well known. We tried
to goad Him into going to Jerusalem to what
we felt sure would be His public humiliation.
May God forgive us for our cruelty.
He gave us no satisfaction. But toward the
end of the feast He appeared, and stood preach
ing publicly and courageously. There was an
attempt to arrest Him, but the officers of the
law heard Him preaching as they struggled
through the crowd, and went back to the priests,
saying, "Never man spake like this man."
I wonder when I remember these things that
we did not become His followers, but we did
not. We were angry and jealous and unworthy..
How did we come to change?
It was our mother, Mary, who first was con
vinced. Six months after the Feast of Taber
nacles occurred the Passover, and our mother
insisted upon going to Jerusalem. We tried to
dissuade her, but it was no use. She said a
number of her friends were going and she would
be well cared for. So she went with them.
There was Salome, the mother of James and
John, and Mary, the Magdalene, and a group of
others, and as it happened they were all or
nearly all of them friends of Jesus. By the
143

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
time she reached Jerusalem our mother was
thoroughly convinced; her heart had been with
Him all the time, but she had been bewildered.
During the last week in Jerusalem she saw Him
several times, and when He hung upon the
cross she was there, very nearly His last words
concern her. He provided for her care in case
her sons did not become His followers.
But we did become followers of Jesus. After
His death a great wave of self-reproach came
over us that we had let Him die, our own
brother and dearest friend, and never had en
couraged or helped Him. I myself had a vision
of Him after He was risen from the dead, and
upon my bended knees I asked Him to forgive
me for my hardness of heart and unreadiness
to believe. That which I did not do while He
still lived I did when I knew that He lived
again. Other people called me His brother;
I call myself His servant. He is my brother
but He is also my Lord.
I must mention a strange thing that has come
to pass. When I became a follower of /Jesus
it was with the thought that I should be the
humblest among his followers, for I had known
Him longest but had been latest in confessing
Him. I gave up my home in Nazareth and
came to Jerusalem. If there was any peril I
wanted to share it; if there was any work to be
144

JAMES
done or sacrifice to make I wanted a part in it.
But when I came my brethren in the church
refused to permit me to serve humbly. They
honoured me for His sake and gave me office
in the church even aboye those who from the
beginning had been His disciples. I am the
first elder in the Jerusalem church; nay there
are those who have applied to me that strange
Gentile title of "episcopos."
I have been and am most zealous for the law
and a strange situation has risen among us by
reason of the preaching of a very zealous mis
sionary, who was born in Tarsus and whose
name is Paul. He has been preaching among
the Gentiles and teaching them that it was not
necessary for them to obey the Jewish law. We
have just had a very earnest discussion about
it with brethren here from many places wait
ing to see how the matter should be decided.
We were much perplexed, but at length it
seemed clear to me that- religion as Jesus taught
it is broad enough and sympathetic enough to
include men of all nations and that we ought
not to impose upon the Gentiles a yoke which
even we have found heavier than we could bear.
And so we have decided that Gentile Christians
shall not be required to keep the Jewish law,
though Jewish Christians will continue to do so.
I am sure that those who were present at
145

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
the council were surprised when I took this
stand, and almost as much so when Peter agreed
with me. For Peter had seen a vision and had
heard a voice saying, "What God hath cleansed,
that call not thou common or unclean."
So now it is arranged that our religion is to
be broad enough to include those whom we re
gard as orthodox and those who seem to us to
be heretical. The more I think about it, the
more I feel sure that this is what Jesus would
have had us do. For, while He was sent only
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He
sent us into all the world ; and if the Gospel is
to go into all the world it must adapt itself to
the needs of men everywhere. The law, as
Paul said to us, was our schoolmaster to bring
us to Christ; but having found Christ, it is not
necessary that we regard all its forms as es
sential even for us, much less that we should
burden our Gentile converts with them.
It is clear to me that I could never preach
this doctrine effectively; mine is a Gospel for
the Jews. But Paul holds this to be of the
very essence of the Gospel, and we have agreed
that we have no right to forbid his preaching it.
Even so Jesus said, "Forbid him not, for he that
is not against us is with us."
So it may be that what we have just done
is greatly to widen the scope of our great work,
146

JAMES
and perhaps assist in carrying the good news
into all the world. For myself, I confess I
wish it could carry with it the full observance
of the Law of Moses; but we have agreed that
we shall not insist on this.
To some people it seems as though we had
surrendered something of vital importance in
making this concession, but I cannot help be
lieving that we are acting in the spirit of Jesus.
He had no favour for those who bind heavy bur
dens upon men. Religion for Him did not
consist in any set of forms, but in a willingness
to know God's will and to follow it in loving
obedience. For what is true religion and un
defined before God, but to visit the widows and
the fatherless in their affliction and to keep one's
self unspotted from the world.
I am much disturbed by some things which
Paul has been preaching. In his effort to adapt
the teaching of Christ to the Gentile world he
has seemed to me to make many and strange
departures from the teaching which we hold
here in Jerusalem. He says much about faith
and speaks lightly of works, whereas it has al
ways seemed to me that faith without works
would be dead, and that faith must be shown in
righteous works. I have thought of writing
my views of these subjects and of giving some
practical admonitions concerning life in the
147

FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS
Church, and concerning the spirit in which we
ought to fulfill our mission as followers of
Jesus. Perhaps I shall do so some time. It is
difficult to avoid a quarrel between those fol
lowers of Jesus who are very zealous of the
law, as I am and always have been, and those
who like Paul declare that we are redeemed
from the curse of the law. But one thing I am
sure, his kind of -preaching is adapted to the
people to whom he ministers and we have no
right to deny that those are Christians who
have received the Holy Spirit even as that Spirit
has been received also by us.
Thus I am privileged, though unworthy, to
behold the good n'ews as my brother taught it
spreading from Jerusalem through all Judea
and Samaria and Galilee and far into distant
lands. I behold the failure of all efforts of men
who oppose it, and I see it going triumphantly
forward, so that here in Jerusalem priests and
honourable men are among the followers of
Jesus and in distant ' places men and women
of rank and title proclaim themselves His fol
lowers. I remember the days of our boyhood
together, of our discussions in the carpenter
shop, of our interpretations of those wonderful
promises in the Holy Scriptures concerning the
coming of God's Messiah, and now I know that
14^

JAMES
He with whom I had these boyhood conversa
tions was Himself the Christ.
Here in Jerusalem, the city which crucified
Him, the number of His followers grows daily,
and I; remember that He said that if He were
lifted up from the earth He would draw all men
unto Him. I, His brother, His companion, and
now His humble follower, thank God that,
though tardily, I came to recognise Him as the
Saviour of mankind, and I daily pray for the
spread of His kingdom until men everywhere
shall honour Him as the Son of God and the
Saviour of the world.

149