Forbidden Gospels and Epistles, Volume 4, Nicodemus

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THE
SUPPRESSED
GOSPELS AND EPISTLES
OF THE ORIGINAL
NEW TESTAMENT
OF
JESUS THE CHRIST

AND OTHER PORTIONS OF THE ANCIENT HOLY SCRIPTURES.
NOW EXTANT, ATTRIBUTED TO
HIS APOSTLES, AND THEIR DISCIPLES,
AND VENERATED BY THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES DURING
THE FIRST FOUR CENTURIES,
BUT SINCE, AFTER VIOLENT DISPUTATIONS
FORBIDDEN BY THE
BISHOPS OF THE NICENE COUNCIL,
IN THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE
AND OMITTED FROM THE CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANT
EDITIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, BY ITS COMPILERS

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL TONGUES, WITH HISTORICAL
REFERENCES TO THEIR AUTHENTICITY,

BY
ARCHBISHOP WAKE
AND OTHER
LEARNED DIVINES

THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS,
FORMERLY CALLED THE ACTS OF PONTIUS PILATE.

The Gospel of NICODEMUS, the disciple,
concerning the Sufferings and Resurrection
of our Master and Saviour, JESUS CHRIST.

CHAPTER I.

1 Christ accused to Pilate by the Jews
of healing on the Sabbath.
9 Summoned before Pilate by a messenger
who does him honour.
20 Worshipped by the standards bowing down to him.

ANNAS and Caiphas, and
Summas, and Datam, Gamaliel,
Judas, Levi, Nepthalim, Alexan-
der, Cyrus, and other Jews, went
to Pilate about Jesus, accusing
him with many bad crimes.

2 And said, We are assured that
Jesus is the son of Joseph, the
carpenter, and born of Mary, and
that he declares himself the Son of
God, and a king; and not only so,
but attempts the dissolution of the
Sabbath, and the laws of our
fathers.

3 Pilate replied, What is it
which he declares? and what is it
which he attempts dissolving?

4 The Jews told him, We have
a law which forbids doing cures
on the Sabbath day; but he cures
both the lame and the deaf, those
afflicted with the palsy, the blind,
the lepers, and demoniacs, on that
day, by wicked methods.

5 Pilate replied, How can he
do this by wicked methods? They
answered He is a conjurer, and
casts out devils by the prince of
the devils; and so all things,
become subject to him.

6 Then said Pilate, Casting out
devils seems not to be the work of
an unclean spirit, but to proceed
from the power of God.

7 The Jews replied to Pilate,
We entreat your highness to summon
him to appear before your tribunal,
and hear him yourself.

8 Then Pilate called a messenger,
and said to him, By what means
will Christ be brought hither?

9 Then went the messenger
forth, and knowing Christ,
worshipped him; and having spread
the cloak which he had in his hand
upon the ground, he said, Lord,
walk upon this, and go in, for the
governor calls thee.

10 When the Jews perceived
what the messenger had done,
they exclaimed (against him) to
Pilate, and said, Why did you not
give him his summons by a beadle,
and not by a messenger?--For the
messenger, when he saw him,
worshipped him, and spread the
cloak which he had in his hand
upon the ground before him, and
said to him, Lord, the governor
calls thee.

11 Then Pilate called the
messenger, and said, Why hast thou
done thus?

12 The messenger replied, When
thou sentest me from Jerusalem to
Alexander, I saw Jesus sitting in
a mean figure upon a she-ass, and
the children of the Hebrews cried
out, Hosannah, holding boughs of
trees in their hands.

13 Others spread their garments
in the way, and said, Save us, thou
who art in heaven; blessed is he
who cometh in the name of the
Lord.

14 Then the Jews cried out,
against the messenger, and said,
The children of the Hebrews made
their acclamations in the Hebrew
language; and how couldst thou,
who art a Greek, understand the
Hebrew?

15 The messenger answered
them and said, I asked one of the
Jews and said, What is this which
the children do cry out in the
Hebrew language?

16 And he explained it to me,
saying, they cry out, Hosannah,
which being interpreted, is, O
Lord, save me; or, O Lord, save.

17 Pilate then said to them,
Why do you yourselves testify to
the words spoken by the children,
namely, by your silence? In what
has the messenger done amiss?
And they were silent.

18 Then the governor said unto
the messenger, Go forth and
endeavour by any means to bring
him in.

19 But the messenger went forth
and did as before; and said, Lord
come in, for the governor calleth
thee.

20 And as Jesus was going in
by the ensigns, who carried the
standards, the tops of them bowed
down and worshipped Jesus.

21 Whereupon the Jews exclaimed
more vehemently against the ensigns.

22 But Pilate said to the Jews,
I know it is not pleasing to you
that the tops of the standards did
of themselves bow and worship
Jesus; but why do ye exclaim
against the ensigns, as if they had
bowed and worshipped?

23 They replied to Pilate,
We saw the ensigns themselves
bowing and worshipping Jesus.

24 Then the governor called the
ensigns, and said unto them, Why
did you do thus?

25 The ensigns said to Pilate,
We are all Pagans and worship
the gods in temples; and how
should we think anything about
worshipping him? We only held
the standards in our hands,
and they bowed themselves and
worshipped him.

26 Then said Pilate to the rulers
of the synagogue, Do ye yourselves
choose some strong men, and let
them hold the standards, and we
shall see whether they will then
bend of themselves.

27 So the elders of the Jews
sought out twelve of the most
strong and able old men, and made
them hold the standards, and they
stood in the presence of the gover-
nor.

28 Then Pilate said to the mes-
senger, Take Jesus out, and by
some means bring him in again.
And Jesus and the messenger went
out of the hall.

29 And Pilate called the ensigns
who before had borne the standards,
and swore to them, that if they
had not borne the standards in
that manner when Jesus before
entered in, he would cut off
their heads.

30 Then the governor commanded
Jesus to come in again.

31 And the messenger did as he
had done before, and very much
entreated Jesus that he would go
upon his cloak, and walk on it;
and he did walk upon it, and went
in.

32 And when Jesus went in,
the standards bowed themselves as
before, and worshipped him.

CHAPTER II.

2 Is comppassionated by Pilate's wife,
7 charged with being born in fornication.
12 Testimony tothe betrothing of his parents.
15 Hatred of the Jews to him.

NOW when Pilate saw this, he
was afraid, and was about to
rise from his seat.

2 But while he thought to rise,
his own wife who stood at a dis-
tance, sent to him, saying, Have
thou nothing to do with that just
man; for I have suffered much
concerning him in a vision this
night.

3 When the Jews heard this
they said to Pilate, Did we not say
unto thee, He is a conjuror? Behold,
he hath caused thy wife to dream.

4 Pilate then calling Jesus, said,
thou hast heard what they testify
against thee, and makest no answer?

5 Jesus replied, If they had not
a power of speaking, they could
not have spoke; but because every
one has the command of his own
tongue, to speak both good and
bad, let him look to it.

6 But the elders of the Jews
answered, and said to Jesus, What
shall we look to?

7 In the first place, we know
this concerning thee, that thou
wast born through fornication;
secondly, that upon the account of
thy birth the infants were slain in
Bethlehem; thirdly, that thy father
and mother Mary fled into Egypt,
because they could not trust their
own people.

8 Some of the Jews who stood
by spake more favourably, We
cannot say that he was born
through fornication; but we know
that his mother Mary was betrothed
to Joseph, and so he was not born
through fornication.

9 Then said Pilate to the Jews
who affirmed him to be born
through fornication, This your
account is not true, seeing there was
a betrothment, as they testify who
are of your own nation.

10 Annas and Caiphas spake to
Pilate, All this multitude of people
is to be regarded, who cry out,
that he was born through fornication,
and is a conjurer; but they who deny
him to be born through fornication,
are his proselytes and disciples.

11 Pilate answered Annas and
Caiphas, Who are the proselytes?
They answered, They are those
who are the children of Pagans,
and are not become Jews, but
followers of him.

12 Then replied Eleazer, and
Asterius, and Antonius, and James,
Caras and Samuel, Isaac and Phinees,
Crispus and Agrippa, Annas and Judas,
We are not proselytes, but children
of Jews, and speak the truth,
and were present when Mary was
betrothed.

13 Then Pilate addressing
himself to the twelve men who
spake this, said to them, I conjure
you by the life of Caesar, that ye
faithfully declare whether he was
born through fornication, and those
things be true which ye have related.

14 They answered Pilate, We
have a law whereby we are forbid
to swear, it being a sin: Let them
swear by the life of Coesar that it
is not as we have said, and we will
be contented to be put to death.

15 Then said Annas and Caiphas
to Pilate, Those twelve men will
not believe that we know him to be
basely born, and to be a conjurer,
although he pretends that he is
the Son of God, and a king: which
we are so far from believing, that
we tremble to hear.

16 Then Pilate commanded
every one to go out except the
twelve men who said he was not
born through fornication, and
Jesus to withdraw to a distance,
and said to them, Why have the Jews
a mind to kill Jesus?

17 They answered him, They
are angry because he wrought
cures on the sabbath day. Pilate
said, Will they kill him for a
good work? They say unto him,
Yes, Sir.

CHAPTER III.

1 Is exonerated by Pilate.
11 Disputes with Pilate concerning truth.

THEN Pilate, filled with anger,
went out of the hall, and said
to the Jews, I call the whole
world to witness that I find no
fault in that man.

2 The Jews replied to Pilate,
If he had not been a wicked person,
we had not brought him before thee.

3 Pilate said to them, Do ye take
him and try him by your law.

4 Then the Jews said, It is not
lawful for us to put any one to
death.

5 Pilate said to the Jews, The
command, therefore, thou shalt
not kill, belongs to you, but
not to me.

6 And he went again into the
hall, and called Jesus by himself,
and said to him, Art thou the king
of the Jews?

7 And Jesus answering, said
to Pilate, Dost thou speak this
of thyself, or did the Jews tell
it thee concerning me?

8 Pilate answering, said to
Jesus, Am I a Jew? The whole
nation and rulers of the Jews have
delivered thee up to me. What
hast thou done?

9 Jesus answering, said, My
kingdom is not of this world:
if my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight,
and I should not have been
delivered to the Jews: but now
my kingdom is not from hence.

10 Pilate said, Art thou a king
then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest
that I am a king: to this end
was I born, and for this end came
I into the world; and for this
purpose I came, that I should bear
witness to the truth; and every
one who is of the truth, heareth
my voice.

11 Pilate saith to him, What is
truth?

12 Jesus said, Truth is from
heaven.

13 Pilate said, Therefore truth
is not on earth.

14 Jesus saith to Pilate,
Believe that truth is on earth
among those, who when they have
the power of judgment, are governed
by truth, and form right judgment.

CHAPTER IV.

1 Pilate finds no fault in Jesus.
16 The Jews demand his crucifixion.

THEN Pilate left Jesus in the hall,
and went out to the Jews, and said,
I find not any one fault in Jesus.

2 The Jews say unto him, But
he said, I can destroy the temple
of God, and in three days build it
up again.

3 Pilate saith to them, What
sort of temple is that of which he
speaketh?

4 The Jews say unto him,
That which Solomon was forty-six
years in building, he said he
would destroy, and in three days
build up.

5 Pilate said to them again, I
am innocent from the blood of that
man! do ye look to it.

6 The Jews say to him, His
blood be upon us and our children.
Then Pilate calling together the
elders and scribes, priests and
Levites, saith to them privately,
Do not act thus; I have found
nothing in your charge (against
him) concerning his curing sick
persons, and breaking the sabbath,
worthy of death.

7 The priests and Levites replied
to Pilate, By the life of Caesar,
if any one be a blasphemer, he is
worthy of death; but this man hath
blasphemed against the Lord.

8 Then the governor again com-
manded the Jews to depart out
of the hall; and calling Jesus,
said to him, What shall I do with
thee?

9 Jesus answered him, Do according
as it is written.

10 Pilate said to him, How is it
written?

11 Jesus saith to him, Moses
and the prophets have prophesied
concerning my suffering and
resurrection.

12 The Jews hearing this, were
provoked, and said to Pilate,
Why wilt thou any longer hear the
blasphemy of that man?

13 Pilate saith to them, If these
words seem to you blasphemy, do
ye take him, bring him to your
court, and try him according to
your law.

14 The Jews reply to Pilate,
Our law saith, he shall be obliged
to receive nine and thirty stripes,
but if after this manner he shall
blaspheme against the Lord, he
shall be stoned.

15 Pilate saith unto them, If
that speech of his was blasphemy,
do ye try him according to your
law.

16 The Jews say to Pilate, Our
law command us not to put any one
to death. We desire that he may be
crucified, because he deserves the
death of the cross.

17 Pilate saith to them, It is not
fit he should be crucified: let him
be only whipped and sent away.

18 But when the governor looked
upon the people that were present
and the Jews, he saw many of the
Jews in tears, and said to the
chief priests of the Jews, All
the people do not desire his death.

19 The elders of the Jews answered
to Pilate, We and all the people
came hither for this very purpose,
that he should die.

20 Pilate saith to them, Why should
he die?

21 They said to him, Because
he declares himself to be the Son
of God and a King.

CHAP. V.

1 Nicodemus speaks in defence of Christ,
and relates his miracles.
12 Another Jew,
26 with Veronica,
34 Centurio, and others,
testify of other miracles.

BUT Nicodemus, a certain Jew,
stood before the governor,
and said, I entreat thee,
O righteous judge, that thou
wouldst favour me with the
liberty of speaking a few words.

2 Pilate said to him, Speak on.

3 Nicodemus said, I spake to
the elders of the Jews, and the
scribes, and priests and Levites,
and all the multitude of the Jews,
in their assembly; What is it ye
would do with this man?

4 He is a man who hath wrought
many useful and glorious miracles,
such as no man on earth ever
wrought before, nor will ever
work. Let him go, and do him
no harm; if he cometh from God,
his miracles, (his miraculous
cures) will continue; but if from
men, they will come to nought.

5 Thus Moses, when he was
sent by God into Egypt, wrought
the miracles which God commanded
him, before Pharaoh king of Egypt;
and though the magicians of that
country, Jannes and Jambres,
wrought by their magic the same
miracles which Moses did, yet they
could not work all which he did;

6 And the miracles which the
magicians wrought, were not of
God, as ye know, O Scribes and
Pharisees; but they who wrought
them perished, and all who
believed them.

7 And now let this man go;
because the very miracles for
which ye accuse him, are from
God; and he is not worthy of
death.

8 The Jews then said to Nicodemus,
Art thou become his disciple,
and making speeches in his favour?

9 Nicodemus said to them, Is
the governor become his disciple
also, and does he make speeches
for him? Did not Caesar place
him in that high post?

10 When the Jews heard this
they trembled, and gnashed their
teeth at Nicodemus, and said to
him, Mayest thou receive his
doctrine for truth, and have
thy lot with Christ!

11 Nicodemus replied, Amen;
I will receive his doctrine, and
my lot with him, as ye have said.

12 Then another certain Jew
rose up, and desired leave of the
governor to hear him a few words.

13 And the governor said,
Speak, what thou hast a mind.

14 And he said, I lay for thirty-
eight years by the sheep-pool at
Jerusalem, labouring under a great
infirmity, and waiting for a cure
which should be wrought by the
coming of an angel, who at a
certain time troubled the water: and
whosoever first after the troubling
of the water stepped in, was made
whole of whatsoever disease he had.

15 And when Jesus saw me languishing
there, he said to me, Wilt thou be
made whole? And I answered, Sir,
I have no man, when the water is
troubled, to put me into the pool.

16 And he said unto me, Rise,
take up thy bed and walk. And
I was immediately made whole,
and took up my bed and walked.

17 The Jews then said to Pilate,
Our Lord Governor, pray ask
him what day it was on which he
was cured of his infirmity.

18 The infirm person replied,
It was on the sabbath.

19 The Jews said to Pilate, Did
we not say that he wrought his
cures on the sabbath, and cast out
devils by the prince of devils?

20 Then another certain Jew
came forth, and said, I was blind,
could hear sounds, but could not
see any one; and as Jesus was
going along, I heard the multitude
passing by, and I asked what
was there?

21 They told me that Jesus was
passing by: then I cried out,
saying, Jesus, Son of David, have
mercy on me. And he stood still,
and commanded that I should be
brought to him, and said to me,
What wilt thou?

22 I said, Lord, that I may
receive my sight.

23 He said to me, Receive thy
sight: and presently I saw, and
followed him, rejoicing and giving
thanks,

24 Another Jew also came forth,
and said, I was a leper, and he
cured me by his word only, saying,
I will, be thou clean; and presently
I was cleansed from my leprosy.

25 And another Jew came
forth, and said I was crooked,
and he made me straight by his
word.

26 And a certain woman
named Veronica, said, I was
afflicted with an issue of blood
twelve years, and I touched the
hem of his garment, and presently
the issue of blood stopped.

27 The Jews then said, We
have a law, that a woman shall
not be allowed as an evidence.

28 And, after other things,
another Jew said, I saw Jesus
invited to a wedding with his
disciples, and there was a want
of wine in Cana of Galilee;

29 And when the wine was all
drank, he commanded the servants
that they should fill six pots which
were there with water, and they
filled them up to the brim, and he
blessed them and turned the water
into wine, and all the people drank,
being surprised at this miracle,

30 And another Jew stood forth,
and said, I saw Jesus teaching
in the synagogue at Capernaum;
and there was in the synagogue
a certain man who had a devil;
and he cried out, saying,
let me alone; what have we to
do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth?
Art thou come to destroy us?
I know that thou art the Holy One
of God.

31 And Jesus rebuked him, saying,
Hold thy peace, unclean spirit,
and come out of the man; and
presently he came out of him, and
did not at all hurt him.

32 The following things were
also said by a Pharisee: I saw
that a great company came to
Jesus from Galilee and Judma, and
the sea-cost, and many countries
about Jordan; and many infirm
persons came to him, and he healed
them all.

33 And I heard the unclean
spirits crying out, and saying,2
Thou art the Son of God. And
Jesus strictly charged them, that
they should not make him known.

34 After this another person,
whose name was Centurio, said,
I saw Jesus in Capernaum, and I
entreated him, saying, Lord, my
servant lieth at home sick of the
palsy.

35 And Jesus said to me, I
will come and cure him.

36 But I said, Lord, I am not
worthy that thou shouldst come
under my roof; but only speak
the word, and my servant shall be
healed.

37 And Jesus said unto me, Go
thy way; and as thou hast believed
so be it done unto thee. And my
servant was healed from that same
hour.

38 Then a certain nobleman
said, I had a son in Capernaum,
who lay at the point of death; and
when I heard that Jesus was come
into Galilee, I went and besought
him that he would come down to
my house, and heal my son, for he
was at the point of death.

39 He said to me, Go thy way,
thy son liveth.

40 And my son was cured from
that hour.

41 Besides these, also many
others of the Jews, both men and
Women, cried out and said, He is
truly the Son of God, who cures
all diseases only by his word, and
to whom the devils are altogether
subject.

42 Some of them farther said,
This power can proceed from none
but God.

43 Pilate said to the Jews, Why
are not the devils subject to your
doctors?

44 Some of them said, The
power of subjecting devils cannot
proceed but from God.

45 But others said to Pilate,
That he had raised Lazarus from
the dead, after he had been four
days in his grave.

46 The governor hearing this,
trembling, said to the multitude of
the Jews, What will it profit you
to shed innocent blood?

CHAPTER VI.

1 Pilate dismayed by the turbulence of the Jews,
5 who demand Barabbas to be released, and Christ
to be crucified.
9 Pilate warmly expostulates with them,
20 washes his hands of Christ's blood,
23 and sentences him to be whipped and crucified.

THEN Pilate having called
together Nicodemus, and the
fifteen men who said that Jesus
was not born through fornication,
said to them, What shall I do,
seeing there is like to be a tumult
among the people.

2 They say unto him, We know
not; let them look to it who raise
the tumult.

3 Pilate then called the
multitude again, and said to them,
Ye know that ye have a custom, that
I should release to you one prisoner
at the feast of the passover:

4 I have a noted prisoner, a
murderer, who is called Barabbas,
and Jesus who is called Christ, in
whom I find nothing that deserves
death; which of them, therefore,
have you a mind that I should
release to you?

5 They all cry out, and say,
Release to us Barabbas.

6 Pilate saith to them, What
then shall I do with Jesus who is
called Christ?

7 They all answer, Let him be
crucified.

8 Again they cry out and say to
Pilate, You are not the friend of
Caesar, if you release this man;
for he hath declared that he is the
Son of God, and a king. But are
you inclined that he should be
king, and not Caesar?

9 Then Pilate filled with anger
said to them, Your nation hath
always been seditious, and you are
always against those who have
been serviceable to you.

10 The Jews replied, Who are those
who have been serviceable to us?

11 Pilate answered them, Your
God who delivered you from the
hard bondage of the Egyptians,
and brought you over the Red Sea
as though it had been dry land,
and fed you in the wilderness with
manna and the flesh of quails, and
brought water out of the rock, and
gave you a law from heaven.

12 Ye provoked him all ways,
and desired for yourselves a
molten calf, and worshipped it,
and sacrificed to it, and said,
These are thy Gods, O Israel,
which brought thee out of the
land of Egypt:

13 On account of which your
God was inclined to destroy you;
but Moses interceded for you, and
your God heard him, and forgave
your iniquity.

14 Afterwards ye were enraged
against, and would have killed
your prophets, Moses and Aaron,
when they fled to the tabernacle,
and ye were always murmuring
against God and his prophets.

15 And arising from his
judgment seat, he would have gone
out; but the Jews all cried out,
We acknowledge Caesar to be king,
and not Jesus;

16 Whereas this person, as
soon as he was born, the wise
men came and offered gifts unto
him; which when Herod heard,
he was exceedingly troubled,
and would have killed him:

17 When his father knew this,
he fled with him and his mother
Mary into Egypt. Herod, when
he heard he was born, would have
slain him; and accordingly sent
and slew all the children which
were in Bethlehem, and in all the
coasts thereof, from two years old
and under.

18 When Pilate heard this
account, he was afraid; and
commanding silence among the
people, who made a noise, he said
to Jesus, Art thou therefore a king?

19 All the Jews replied to
Pilate, he is the very person
whom Herod sought to have slain.

20 Then Pilate taking water,
washed his hands before the people
and said, I am innocent of the
blood of this just person; look ye
to it.

21 The Jews answered and said,
His blood be upon us and our
children.

22 Then Pilate commanded Jesus
to be brought before him, and
spake to him in the following
words;

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