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.The Son appeared and said that he would show her a great mystery.'Look upon the earthbeneath.' (Here we have ch.13 of Paul, and from this point we continue with the text of Paulsometimes amplified with quotations from the Bible.)At Paul 31 we have the addition -doubtless correct- that the souls who were neither hot nor coldsit beside the river of fire.There are several variations and additions to the list of torments notworth specifying, but the section which corresponds to Paul 40 must be quoted (unpleasant as thetopic is) on account of its affinity with Peter.Women are seen, bitten by serpents, dogs, lions, and leopards of fire.They are nuns who violatedthe rule and slew their children.Often they caused their death before they were born.They shed their blood on the ground, orkilled them when born, or their fathers gave poison to the mothers.'But these children cry outbefore the throne of my Father, and say: Lord, they have not suffered us to grow up to do good orevil: the half of us they gave to the dogs and cast the other half to the swine.And when we heardthe words of these children, I and my Father and the Comforter were grieved, and I commandedTemliaqos to set them in a beautiful abode.But for their fathers and mothers this is their tormentfor ever.'The Virgin says: If they repent wilt thou not forgive them? Yes, if they do so from their heart.But as for their pastors who did not admonish them, their part shall be with Eli and Fola.Eli didnot reprove his sons, Fola sold his daughters for an ox.I do not know who Fola was.The Apocalypse ends with ch.44 of Paul.There is no trace in it of Paul 1-12 or 45-51.275 276THE GNOSTIC SOCIETY LIBRARYThe Infancy Gospel of ThomasGreek Text AFrom "The Apocryphal New Testament"M.R.James-Translation and NotesOxford: Clarendon Press, 1924IntroductionThe older testimonies about this book have been given already.I now present the three principalforms of it, as given by Tischendorf: two Greek texts, A and B, and one Latin.The few Greek manuscripts are all late.The earliest authorities are a much abbreviated Syriacversion of which the manuscript is of the sixth century, and a Latin palimpsest at Vienna of thefifth or sixth century, which has never been deciphered in full.The Latin version translated here is found in more manuscripts than the Greek; none of them, Ithink, is earlier than the thirteenth century.The stories of Thomas the Israelite, the Philosopher, concerning the works of the Childhood ofthe Lord.I.I, Thomas the Israelite, tell unto you, even all the brethren that are of the Gentiles, to makeknown unto you the works of the childhood of our Lord Jesus Christ and his mighty deeds, evenall that he did when he was born in our land: whereof the beginning is thus:II.1 This little child Jesus when he was five years old was playing at the ford of a brook: and hegathered together the waters that flowed there into pools, and made them straightway clean, andcommanded them by his word alone.2 And having made soft clay, he fashioned thereof twelvesparrows.And it was the Sabbath when he did these things (or made them).And there were alsomany other little children playing with him.3 And a certain Jew when he saw what Jesus did, playing upon the Sabbath day, departedstraightway and told his father Joseph: Lo, thy child is at the brook, and he hath taken clay andfashioned twelve little birds, and hath polluted the Sabbath day.4 And Joseph came to the placeand saw: and cried out to him, saying: Wherefore doest thou these things on the Sabbath, whichit is not lawful to do? But Jesus clapped his hands together and cried out to the sparrows and saidto them: Go! and the sparrows took their flight and went away chirping.5 And when the Jewssaw it they were amazed, and departed and told their chief men that which they had seen Jesusdo.III.1 But the son of Annas the scribe was standing there with Joseph; and he took a branch of awillow and dispersed the waters which Jesus had gathered together.2 And when Jesus saw whatwas done, he was wroth and said unto him: O evil, ungodly, and foolish one, what hurt did thepools and the waters do thee? behold, now also thou shalt be withered like a tree, and shalt notbear leaves, neither root, nor fruit.3 And straightway that lad withered up wholly, but Jesusdeparted and went unto Joseph's house
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