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The gospel of Luke, which seems truly to have been made up from "many" older manuscripts, quotes lib- erally from the Protevangelium (2), but James men- tions one thing which Luke utterly ignores ; for James says that Mary, at the time of her conception, was only fourteen years old. (3) Luke tells us (4) that Joseph and Mary reached Bethlehem; but James says when within three miles of that place her time drew near, and they were obliged to stop ; and she was taken into a cave, a place used for the herding of sheep, and Jesus was born there. The gospel of the Infancy, written in the sec- ond century, and ascribed to Thomas, the doubter ( 5 ) , mentions the taxing, and the journey, and the stopping at that cave. The Protevangelium (6) says they stopped three miles from Bethlehem, Luke and the gospel of the Infancy here now con- tradict Matthew in the most explicit terms, for they assert that Jesus was taken to the temple in Jerusalem (2) Luke himself mentions that "many" have written of these things before him. (Luke 1, v. 1.) (3) Ch. 12, James. (4) Ch. 2, V. 4. (5) John 20, V. 24 to 28. (6) Ch. 18. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 355 and was there circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. (7) And after the circumcision in the temple, Luke says, "Joseph and Mary returned into Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth." (8) Now, if Jesus was taken to Jerusalem, as Luke de- scribes, he was not rushed off to Egypt, as Matthew tells us. One or the other of these stories is surely false. Which one is true? We have been taught (at least I was) that "all scripture is given by inspira- tion." (9) Which one of these men was inspired in this matter? Two witnesses in court swearing to absolute opposites may both be false, but they cannot both be true. Section 2. Neither John nor Mark nor Luke makes any mention whatever of the star which came and stood over the young child. But Matthew tells us that the wise men from the East saw it and followed it. (10) And the book of James (11) mentions it as a very large star, outshin- ing all the other stars in the heavens. Moreover, James divulges a secret of which neither of the ca- nonicals makes explicit mention, though Matthew hints at it broadly. (12) But James (13) says Joseph be- lieved Mary was to be zvith child by an angel, and that (7) Infancy, eh. 5 and 6; Luke, ch. 2. (8) Luke 2, v. 39. (9) Holy men of God spoke, it is said, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (Second epistle of Peter, ch. 1, v. 21.) (10) Matt. 2. (11) Ch. 21. (12) Matt. 1, V. 18 to 20. (13) Ch. 14. 356 A QUESTION OF MIRACLES if he concealed her crime, he would he fi)iind guilty by the law of the Lord. Is it not a curious circumstance that Matthew makes the birth of Jesus so great and important that a star moves through the heavens "till it comes and stands over this child?'' (14) Then he sends the par- ents and child in hot haste off to Egypt, where they remain until the death of Herod. (15) Yet neither Mark, Luke nor John mentions a word about either the journey or the residence in Egypt. And Matthew gives as his sole reason for that journey that Hosea (16), a Jewish writer seven hundred years before, had said: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." Leaving out the star story, and Hosea, Matthew's first chapter is mostly made up of Joseph's five dreams. First, he is in trouble about his wife, and an angel appears to him in a dream, and soothes him. (17) Then he is "warned of God in a dream, that they should not return to Herod." Then after starting for Galilee, the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in another dream (18) and bids him go to Egypt. Again after the death of Herod, (14) Matt. 2, V. 9 and 10. (15) Herod the Great died the year Jesus was born, that is, 4 B. C, and he is the one charged with the slaughter of the infants. But history makes no mention of the murder of the children, and while it is true that Herod murdered his sons and his wife, and was vile enough to kill the babes, yet it is not certain that Mat- thew is right in charging him with that awful crime. (16) Ch. 11, V. 1. (17) Matt. 1:20. (18) Matt. 2, V. 13. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 357 an angel of the Lord appears in still another dream (19) and tells him to take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel. On reaching Israel, Joseph learns that Archelaus is king, and he is warned of God in yet another dream, and he goes and dwells in Nazareth. (20) The thoughful reader will just here inquire who told Matthew about those five dreams? Joseph could not tell him, for Joseph had been in his grave a cen- tury when Matthew was written. Does it require in- spiration to state a sober fact? Surely we can affirm that dreams are gossamer things upon which to build a great historical faith. The gospel of the Infancy, written before or about the time of Matthew, may have somewhat misled him, for it says, "Joseph, being warned of an angel, fled into Egypt." (21) No one of the canonicals mentions a word about the miracles which Jesus is said to have performed in Egypt ; and I can only account for this on the theory that the alleged miracles are so astounding as to sur- pass belief. On being carried in his mother's arms into a temple in Egypt, while he was a baby, it is said all the idols, big and little, fell down at his approach. A girl, white (19) Matt. 2, V. 19. (20) Matt. 2, V. 22. (21) Infancy, ch. 9, says the wise men came from the East; according to the prophecy of Zoroaster. That star story, it seems, is an importation from Persia. Chapter 29, Gospel of the Infancy, Bays Joseph and Mary resided in Memphis three years. 358 A QUESTION OF iMlRACLES with leprosy, on taking Jesus in her arms, was instant- ly cured. A young man, for some offense, had been changed into a mule ; Jesus was placed on that mule's back, and at once the mule was transformed into the young man. (22) Traveling in a desert place, Jesus caused a cooling fountain, it is said, to gush forth, to the great relief of the parched sufferers. The Jewish instinct of trade seems to have been strong in Mary, for she cured Caleb, a sick boy, by giving his mother some of Jesus' swaddling clothes, in exchange for a beautiful carpet. The touch of the swaddling clothes, it is said, healed Caleb (23) in- stantly. But another woman, an enemy of Caleb, seized him and threw him into a well. Instead of drowning, Caleb sat calmly upon the surface of the waters, uninjured. His persecutor, the woman, by ac- cident fell into the well, and instantly perished. A 3^oung woman who had been long afflicted by Satan sucking her blood, was cured by wrapping some of Jesus' swaddling clothes about her head. Flames at once burst forth from these clothes, and so badly scorched the dragon that he cried out : "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of Mary? Whither shall I go?" Luke, in chapter 8, v. 28, quotes this dragon story, with this difference; that the devil, in Luke, begs to enter into some swine, and the swine perish by drowning in the sea. (22) Ch. 10 to 20, Gospel of the Infancy. (23) Ch. 27 to 34, Gospel of the Infancy. A QUESTION OF MIRACLES 359 Chapter 40 of the Infancy tells us that Jesus turned some boys into kids, and he said to the kids, "Come hither, O ye kids"; and they came. Then at a word he changed them back into boys. Later on, he could change water into wine, at least John so tells us. (24) One story is perhaps just as true as the other. While Jesus was still a boy in Egypt, we are told that he raised a dead boy to life. Later he met a funeral procession bearing a young man to his grave. He came and touched the bier, and said to the corpse, "Arise," and the dead sat up and began to speak. (25) Why condemn the Infancy story and not also that of Luke? Matthew makes no mention whatever of the length of time Jesus remained in Egypt; but the Infancy here comes to our assistance, and tells us that his resi- dence there lasted three years. But Joseph, when he came near Judea, on his return, hearing that Archelaus was king, was afraid, and an angel appeared to him, and said, "O Joseph, go into the city of Nazareth, and there abide." (26) Section 4. Nothing is mentioned of Jesus' boy- hood in any of the four approved gospels, from his birth until he is twelve years of age.