m 



EK 




Copyright N° 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



FOUR HITHERTO 
UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS 

WILLIAM E. BARTON 



FOUR HITHERTO 
UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS 

A SERIES OF CHARACTER 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 "The Soul of Abraham Lincoln," "The 

Paternity of Abraham Lincoln," "Jesus of 

Nazareth; His Life and the Land He 

Lived In." "The Psalms and 

Their Story," etc. 




NEW XBlr YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 






0^ 



COPYRIGHT, 1920, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



OCT -8IS20 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



©CU576775 



I, 

|0 



TO 



£ WILLIAM GOODELL FROST 



FOR MANY YEARS PRESIDENT 
OF BEREA COLLEGE 

WHO BY A LIFE OF HEROIC DEVOTION 

TO A GREAT 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 .oss of the others, 
vii 



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 
seems 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 1 <uke had never been 
apostles. 

viii 



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 "Gosper' 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 
ix 



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. 



xf 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

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 



\ 



Xlll 



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 
and 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 ^he 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- 
chaerus, which overlooks the Dead Sea, and the 
tradition is wholly probable. This narrative is 
supposed to have been written in that prison 
just 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 lists 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 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 wiiich 
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 
point 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. 



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 the 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 ani 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 in the same position of 
authority, when, about 58 A.D., Paul returned 
from his third missionary journey (Acts 21 :18). 

It would appear from I 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. 

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. 



S3 



The Gospel According to JOHN THE BAPTIST 



Mark 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 striug 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 

Mark 6:14-29. 

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 safcT, 
"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. 



John 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 you 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 9 — 
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 

$9 



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? It 
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 j 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 
into 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 

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 
jealousy 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 Him 
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 comjing kingdom of 
God, but I could not do this 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 I 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 
'remained two nights iat 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 Him, "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 to- 
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 
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 



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 belonging 
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, and 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 hath 
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 fearecf 

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. "What 
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 
in the book of Isaiah, 'Prepare ye the way of 
the Lord; make straight in the desert the high- 
way of 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 £new 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 rejoiced 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 5 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 Him, 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 why 
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 not 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- 
tic 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 my 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 great 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 recog- 
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 
had taught them. 

They returned yesterday, and this is the mes- 
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 poois 
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- 
ings 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 propnetr Yea, I say unto you, and much 
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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 
wmebibber, 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, who 
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, and 
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? 



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 jgreen fields and 
flowing brooks and songs of birds. Life is 
sweet. Would 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 10:3-4. 

THESE are the names of the twelve apostles: 
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 Jesus as he walked about, 
and said, "Look, there is the lamb of God!" The two 
disciples heard what he said and went after Jesus. 
Xow 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"). 

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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 !" 



Mark 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 Peter, 
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 v 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 Philippic 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 
fcim speak and they followed Jesus." (John 
1:35, 36.) 

John ben Zebedee wrote that down, and h& 
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 jnotf 
Luke had recorded and yet which is far too 
precious to be forgotten. 

I know very well that I can never write a 
7* 



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. 
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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 Judaea, 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). 

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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 
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 
caH 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 they 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 
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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 afternoon in Febru- 
ary of which I have already spoken. Afteir 
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 making 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 and 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 could 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 

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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 
forking and not every man could work easily 
with him. I have often thought it was just as 
well 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 
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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 helped 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 
brother, saith unto Him., There is a lad here 
84 



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 
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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 
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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 Jesus 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- 
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. 
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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. 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 now 
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 
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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 m.) 
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 oiice 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 s 



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 are 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 
^giving 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 bow 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 position 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 Cananaean. 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 vicinity 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 a 
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 
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FOUR HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED GOSPELS 

hold our territory successfully against forces 
that Rome could immediately send for our sub- 
j ection. 

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 
intend 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 a kingdom wholly of the soul? Did they 
not tell of the Messiah coming to break the na- 
tions into pieces like a potter's vessel? Was 
the kingdom of God which the prophets prom- 
ised us entirely a matter of spiritual comfort? 
Did they 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. 
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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 I 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 extravagant 
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 
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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- 
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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- 
tieved 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 
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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 the 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 with 
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. So I became a thief; rather 
I will say, I manifested the fact that I already 
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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 acted in covetousness, but far more in re- 
sentment. It was my opportunity to vent my 
long cherished hostility toward the whole crowd 
of the Galileans j 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. 
il agreed with the priests upon this as the token 
pf betrayal. From that hour until now my 
lips have burned as though they were hot coals 
[in the memory of that shameful act. And now 
as I look back upon it my shame grows greater 
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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 waited for 
Jesus to manifest His divine power, I thought 
He would summon 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 ! Xo 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 
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 shoulders when I proffered it and said 
I had earned it and it was no further concern 
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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 this 
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 
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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 h* 
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. 

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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, 

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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- 
ing those who were associated with Him in 
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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. As 
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 
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POUR 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 honour 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 
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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 incidents 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 our 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 admired. 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 
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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 
preachy 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 onljr 
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 

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 
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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 great 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 Esdraelon, whose rich 
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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 
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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 
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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 
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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 
hring 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. 
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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 
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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 above 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 thaf 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 
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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, 
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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- 
dented 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 
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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 news 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 
148 



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. 



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