This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
Additional proofing was done by Curtis A. Weyant
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TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL TONGUES, WITH HISTORICAL
REFERENCES TO THEIR AUTHENTICITY,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 CALLED
THE PROTEVANGELION;
Or, an Historical Account of the BIRTH of CHRIST, and the perpetual
VIRGIN MARY, his Mother, by JAMES THE LESSER, Cousin and Brother
of the Lord Jesus, chief Apostle and first Bishop of the Christians in
Jerusalem.
CHAPTER I.
1 Joachim, a rich man,
2 offers to the Lord,
3 is opposed by Reuben the high priest,
because he has not begotten issue in Israel,
6 retires into the wilderness and fasts
forty days and forty nights.
IN the history of the twelve
tribes of Israel we read there
was a certain person called
Joachim, who being very rich, made
double offerings to the Lord God,
having made this resolution:
My substance shall be for the
benefit of the whole people, that
I may find mercy from the Lord
God for the forgiveness of my sins.
2 But at a certain great feast
of the Lord, when the children of
Israel offered their gifts, and
Joachim also offered his, Reuben the
high-priest opposed him, saying,
it is not lawful for thee to offer
thy gifts, seeing thou hast not
begot any issue in Israel.
3 At this, Joachim being
concerned very much, went away to
consult the registries of the twelve
tribes, to see whether he was the
only person who had begot no
issue.
4 But upon inquiry he found
that all the righteous had raised
up seed in Israel;
5 Then he called to mind the
patriarch Abraham, How that God
in the end of his life had given him
his son Isaac; upon which he was
exceedingly distressed, and would
not be seen by his wife:
6 But retired into the wilderness,
and fixed his tent there, and
fasted forty days and forty nights,
saying to himself,
7 I will not go down either to
eat or drink, till the Lord my
God shall look down upon me, but
prayer shall be my meat and drink.