THE FIRST GOSPEL OF THE INFANCY OF JESUS CHRIST.

FORBIDDEN BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

CHAPTER I.

1 Caiphas relates that Jesus, when in his cradle,
informed his mother that he was the Son of God.
5 Joseph and Mary going to Bethlehem to be taxed, Mary's
time of bringing forth arrives, and she goes into a cave.
8 Joseph fetches in a Hebrew woman. The cave filled with
great lights.
11 The infant born,
17 and cures the woman.
19 Arrival of the shepherds.

THE following accounts we found
in the book of Joseph the
high-priest, called by some
Caiphas:

2 He relates, that Jesus spake
even when he was in the cradle,
and said to his mother:

3 Mary, I am Jesus the Son of
God, that word, which thou didst
bring forth according to the
declaration of the angel Gabriel to
thee, and my father hath sent me
for the salvation of the world.

4 In the three hundred and
ninth year of the era of Alexander,
Augustus published a decree that
all persons should go to be taxed
in their own country.

5 Joseph therefore arose, and
with Mary his spouse he went to
Jerusalem, and then came to Bethlehem,
that he and his family might be taxed
in the city of his fathers.

6 And when they came by the cave,
Mary confessed to Joseph that her
time of bringing forth was come,
and she could not go on to the city,
and said, Let us go into this cave.

7 At that time the sun was very
near going down.

8 But Joseph hastened away,
that he might fetch her a midwife;
and when he saw an old Hebrew
woman who was of Jerusalem, he
said to her, Pray come hither,
good woman, and go into that cave,
and you will there see a woman
just ready to bring forth.

9 It was after sunset, when the
old woman and Joseph with her
reached the cave, and they both
went into it.

10 And behold, it was all filled
with lights, greater than the light
of lamps and candles, and greater
than the light of the sun itself.

11 The infant was then wrapped
up in swaddling clothes, and sucking
the breasts of his mother St.
Mary.

12 When they both saw this
light, they were surprised; the
old woman asked St. Mary, Art
thou the mother of this child?

13 St. Mary replied, She was.

14 On which the old woman
said, Thou art very different from
all other women.

15 St. Mary answered, As there
is not any child like to my son,
so neither is there any woman like
to his mother.

16 The old woman answered,
and said, O my Lady, I am come
hither that I may obtain an
everlasting reward.

17 Then our Lady St. Mary
said to her, Lay thine hands upon
the infant, which, when she had
done, she became whole.

18 And as she was going forth,
she said, From henceforth, all the
days of my life, I will attend upon
and be a servant of this infant.

19 After this, when the shepherds
came, and had made a fire, and they
were exceedingly rejoiceing, the
heavenly host appeared to them,
praising and adoring the supreme God.

20 And as the shepherds were
engaged in the same employment,
the cave at that time seemed like
a glorious temple, because both
the tongues of angels and men
united to adore and magnify God,
on account of the birth of the Lord
Christ.

21 But when the old Hebrew
woman saw all these evident miracles,
she gave praises to God, and
said, I thank thee, O God, thou
God of Israel, for that mine eyes
have seen the birth of the Saviour
of the world.

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