wilt speak, speak. And the Jew said, I lay thirty-eight
years on my bed in pain and affliction. And when
Jesus came, many demoniacs, and persons suffering
various diseases, were healed by him; and some young
men had pity on me, and carried me with my bed, and
took me to him; and when Jesus saw me, he had compassion,
and said the word to me, Take up thy bed, and walk;
and I took up my bed and walked. The Jews said
to Pilate, Ask him what day it was when he was healed.
He that was healed said, On the Sabbath. The
Jews said, Did we not tell thee so? that on the Sabbath
he healeth and casteth out demons? And another
Jew, starting up, said, I was born blind; I heard
a voice, but saw no person; and as Jesus passed by,
I cried with a loud voice, Have pity on me, Son of
David, and he had pity on me, and placed his hands
upon my eyes, and immediately I saw. And another
Jew, leaping up, said, I was a cripple, and he made
me straight with a word. And another said, I
was a leper, and he healed me with a word. And
a certain woman cried out from a distance, and said,
I had an issue of blood, and I touched the hem of
his garment, and my issue of blood, which had been
for twelve years, was stayed. The Jews said,
We have a law not to admit a woman to witness.
And others, a multitude, both of men and of women,
cried and said, This man is a prophet, and demons
are subject unto him. Pilate said to those who
said that demons were subject to him, Why were your
teachers not also subject to him? They say unto
Pilate, We know not. And others said, That he
raised up Lazarus from the sepulchre, when he had been
dead four days. And the governor, becoming afraid,
said to all the multitude of the Jews, Why will ye
shed innocent blood?” The story proceeds much
as in the gospels, the names of the malefactors being
given; and when Pilate remarks the three hours’
darkness to the Jews, they answer, “An eclipse
of the sun has happened in the usual manner”
(chap. xi.). Chap. xiii. gives a full account
of the conversation between the Jews and the Roman
soldiers alluded to in Matt. xxviii. 11-15. The
remaining chapters relate the proceedings of the Jews
after the resurrection, and are of no special interest.
There is a second Gospel of Nicodemus, varying on some
points from the one quoted above, which assumes to
be “compiled by a Jew, named Aeneas; translated
from the Hebrew tongue into the Greek, by Nicodemus,
a Roman Toparch.” Then we find a second
part of the Gospel of Nicodemus, or “The Descent
of Christ to the Under World,” which relates
how Jesus descended into Hades, and how he ordered
Satan to be bound, and then he “blessed Adam
on the forehead with the sign of the cross; and he
did this also to the patriarchs, and the prophets,
and martyrs, and forefathers, and took them up, and
sprang up out of Hades.” This story manifestly
runs side by side with the tradition in 1. Pet.
iii. 19, 20, wherein it is stated that Jesus “went
and preached unto the spirits in prison,” and


