When the priest's son was attacked by his accustomed malady, he ran into the caravansera which Joseph and Holy Mary had entered, and all the other occupiers fled. And while the Holy Lady Mary was washing our Lord Christ's swaddling clothes, and suspending them from a beam, the demoniacal boy took one of these swathing bands and placed it on his head, and immediately the devils came out of his mouth, and fled in the form of ravens and serpents. From this time he was cured by the power of our Lord Jesus, and began to sing the praises, and speak of the grace of the Lord who had healed him. When his father saw his former health restored, he said, My son, what has befallen thee? and how hast thou been healed? And his son replied, While the devils influenced me, I went into the caravansera, where I found a woman with a comely countenance, and a boy, whose recently washed swathing bands hung from a beam. I took one of these, and when I placed it on my head, the devils left me and fled. The father, exulting with joy, said, My son, this boy may be considered the son of the living God, who made heaven and earth; and when he comes to us, the idol is broken, and all the gods fall down and are de stroyed by his superior power.

Thus the prophecy is completed, which says, Out of Egypt have I called my son. Now when Joseph and Mary heard of the falling and destruction of that idol, they were seized with terror and trembling, and said, When we were in the land of Israel, Herod wished to kill Jesus, and on that account put all the children in Bethlehem and its vicinity to death; and it is not doubtful, that if the Egyptians hear of the fracture and falling of this idol, we shall be burnt with fire.

Departing, therefore, from thence, they arrived at a den of thieves, who had taken the goods and clothing of some preceding travellers, and led them captive. And the

robbers heard a great noise, like the noise of a king with a great army and horsemen, going out of his city with sound of drums, and they were astonished, and relinquished all their spoil, and hastily fled. The captives, therefore, arose and loosing each others bands, went away taking their goods. And seeing Joseph and Mary coming, they enquired, Where is the king, the noise of whose approach caused the robbers to leave us, so that we are safely escaped? Joseph replied, He comes after us. And they arrived in a desert land, and heard that it was infested by thieves. And Joseph and Holy Mary prepared to pass through this region by night; and behold they saw two robbers in the way sleeping, and a multitude of robbers with them, who were their companions, also sleeping. Two of these thieves they fell among were Titus and Dumachus; and Titus said to Dumachus, I pray that thou wilt allow these to depart freely, that our companions may not notice them ;-but Dumachus refused; and Titus said, Thou shalt receive forty drachms from me, and have my girdle for a pledge; for which, promise that you will conduct these away, and will not betray them. And when the Holy Lady, Mary, saw the benificence of this robber, she said to him, The Lord God shall receive thee at his right hand, and grant remission of thy sins to thee. And the Lord Jesus answered and said to his mother, After thirty years, O mother, the Jews will crucify me in Jerusalem, and will crucify these two thieves with me-Titus at my right hand, Dumachus at my left; and Titus shall go before me to Paradise. And she said, May God avert this from thee my son. And they went from thence to the city of idols (Hermopolis, in Thebais) which, after their approach, was changed into hills of sand.

And they departed from hence to Sycomor, which is now called Materea; and the Lord Jesus produced fountains in Materea, in which Holy Mary washed his coat.

And balsam was produced in that region by the perspiration which flowed from the Lord Jesus there.

They went down to Memphis from thence and saw Pharoah, and remained three years in Egypt; and the Lord Jesus performed many miracles in Egypt, which are neither contained in the gospel of his infancy, nor in the four evangelists.

And a woman lived in Bethlehem, whose son Judas was vexed with a devil; and as often as Satan seized him, he attacked whoever was present with his teeth; and if no person was near, he tore his own hands and other members with his teeth. And when the mother of this miserable child heard the fame of Holy Mary and her son Jesus, she arose hastily, took her son Judas in her arms, and carried him to the Lady Mary. In the mean time, James and Joses, to please the Lord Jesus, had led him to some children that he might play with them; and they sat together outside the house, and the Lord Jesus with them. And Judas, who was possessed of a devil, came and seated himself at the right hand of Jesus; and when Satan vexed him as at former times, he attacked Jesus with his teeth, and because he could not reach him, smote his right side so that Jesus wept. In the same hour Satan came out of this boy, and fled, in the form of a mad dog. The boy who smote Jesus, and out of whom Satan came in the form of a mad dog, was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him to the Jews; and his side which Judas smote was pierced by the Jews.

And when the Lord Jesus had completed seven years from his nativity, he was one day at play with some other boys of the same age, his companions; the players employed themselves in making figures of asses, oxen, birds, and others of the same kind, of mud, and each boasted of his work, and endeavoured to prove its superiority over the other figures. Then the Lord Jesus said to the boys, I will

command these figures that I have made to walk. The boys then enquired if he was the Creator's son? And the Lord Jesus commanded them to walk, and they immediately walked; and when he ordered them to return, they returned. And he made the figures of birds and sparrows; and when he commanded them to fly, they flew; and when he commanded them to remain stationary, they remained stationary; and if food or drink was offered, they ate and drank. When the boys afterwards went to their parents and related this to them, their fathers said to them, Avoid associating with him in future children, because he is a magician; fly and shun him, and never play with him from this moment.

Joseph took the Lord Jesus with him when he went round the city; and when he was called by men to exercise his trade, by making doors, or milk pails, or sieves, or chests, the Lord Jesus was with him wherever he went; and as often as Joseph had any thing to make, longer or shorter, broader or narrower, the Lord Jesus extended his hand towards it, and immediately it became as Joseph wished; so that every thing he did, was done in a most excellent manner.

One day the Lord Jesus went out into the street to play, and saw boys who had assembled for playing, and mixed with the crowd. And when they saw him, they concealed themselves, and caused him to look for them. And Jesus arrived at the door of a house and enquired of women, who stood there, where the children were gone. And when none there replied, the Lord Jesus again said, What see ye in the furnace? What are they? And they answered, kids, three years old. And the Lord Jesus cried out, and said, Come hither, O kids, to your shepherd. And immediately the children came out in the form of kids, and leaped round him; and when the women saw this they were greatly astonished, and seized with fear

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and trembling ;they, therefore, directly adored the Lord Jesus, and prayed to him, saying, O our Lord Jesus, son of Mary, thou art truly the good shepherd of Israel, have mercy on thy handmaids who stand before thee; for thou, O our Lord, camest to heal, not to destroy. Then when the Lord Jesus replied, The children of Israel are like Ethiopians among the nations. The women said, thou, Lord, knowest all things; nothing is concealed from thee; we now therefore entreat thee, and implore from thy goodness, that these children, thy servants, may be restored to their original forms. The Lord Jesus therefore said, Come, O children, and let us go and play; and immediately they stood before the women, and the kids were changed, and restored to the form of children.* .. And there was a man named Zaccheus, at Jerusalem, who instructed youth; and he said to Joseph, Why, O Joseph, dost thou not send Jesus to me that he may learn to read? And Joseph agreed to do this, and reported it to Holy Mary. They, therefore, took Jesus to the master, who, when he saw him, wrote an alphabet for him, and told him to pronounce Aleph; and when he had said Aleph, the master commanded him to pronounce Beth. On which the Lord Jesus said, Tell me first the meaning of the letter Aleph, and then I will pronounce Beth; and when the master threatened to chastise him, the Lord Jesus explained to him the meaning of the letters Aleph and Beth, and which of the letters were upright, which oblique, which duplex, which of them were marked with

* This anecdote and some others of the same nature, as Christ's killing a boy who threw him down, by running against him, must have been introduced into the gospel of the infancy of Jesus, by some enemy to Christianity: not improbably by a Mahometan, as they are accused of corrupting the gospels, and fabricating one in St. Barnabas's name. It is, however, so decidedly opposed to that mildness and beneficence which even his most violent enemies allow to have characterised him, as to be universally disbelieved.