The Gnostic John the Baptizer: Selections from the Mandaean John-Book

(For those who are not familiar with the atmosphere of bitter inner and outer theological strife of the times, it is as well to note that the last two pieces are in the form of haggadic controversy between the followers of John and Jesus respectively.) Yahya proclaims in the nights, Yohana on the Night’s evenings. YAHYA proclaims in the nights and speaks: “The [heavenly] wheels and chariots’ quaked. Sun and Moon weep and the eyes of Raha‘ shed tears.” He’ says: “Yahya, thou art like to a scorched mountain, which brings forth no grapes in this world. Thou art like to a dried-up stream, on whose banks no plants are raised. Thou hast become a land without a lord, a house without worth. A false

We should have expected ‘crosier.’ Is there word-play in all these terms ? Who, is not clear ; perhaps Gnosis of Life, the M. Saviour. - prophet hast thou become, who hast left no one to remember thy name. Who will provide thee with provision, who with victuals, and who will follow to the grave after thee?” When Yahya heard this, a tear gathered in his eye; a tear in his eye gathered, and he spake: “It would be pleasant to take a wife, and delightful for me to have children. But only if I take no woman,—and then comes sleep, desire for her seizes me and I neglect my night-prayer. If only desire does not wake in me, and I forget my Lord out of my mind. If only desire does not wake in me, and I neglect my prayer every time.”

When Yahya said this, there came a Letter from the House of Abathur: “ Yahya, take a wife and found a family, and see that thou dost not let this world come to an end. On the night of Monday and on the night of Tuesday go to thy first’ bedding. On the night of Wednesday and on the night of Thursday devote thyself to thy hallowed praying. On the night of Friday and on the night of Saturday go to thy first bedding. On the night of Sunday and (? yea) on the night of the Day devote thyself to thy hallowed praying. On Sunday take three and leave three, take three and leave three.” See that thou dost not let the world come to an end.”

Thereon they’ fashioned for Yahya a wife out of thee, thou Region of the Faithful.* From the first conception were Handan and Sharrath born. From the middle conception were Birhaém and Rhimath-Haiyé born. From the last conception were Nsab, Sam, Anhar-Ziwa <and Sharrath> born.” These three conceptions took place in thee, thou Ruins, Jerusalem. Yahya opened his mouth and spake to Anhar in Jerusalem: ° These are elsewhere mostly names of heavenly beings and are in part to be paralleled with the children of Eve (Hawwa) in the Genzd (R. 108). Handan is otherwise unknowv. Shar-rath may be Shar, who is elsewhere called ‘‘ the great, hidden First Vine, who bears a thousand times a thousand fruits and ten thousand times ten thousand shoots.” Bihram is a later form of the Avestan Verethragna; he is generally called ‘the Great.’ R’himath-

“Instruct thy daughter, that she may not perish; and I will enlighten my sons and teach [them], that they may not be hindered.” Thereon Anhar opened her mouth and spake to Yahya in Jerusalem. “I have borne sons in this world,” said she to him, “ yet have I not given birth to [their] heart'inthe world. If they let themselves be instructed, then will they ascend to Light’s region ; if they let not themselves be instructed, then will the blazing fire consume them.” JOHN ON HIS OWN PASSING (§ 81 CONTD.). Yahya opened his mouth and spake to Anhar in Jerusalem: “Tf I leave the world, tell me, what wilt thou do after me? °— “ T will not eat and will not drink,” she answered him, “ until I see thee again.” —“A lie hast thou spoken, Anhar, and thy word has come forth in deception. If a day comes and a day goes, thou eatest and drinkest and forgettest me out of thy mind. I asked thee rather, by Great Life and by the eve of the Day whose name is dear : If I leave the world, tell me, what wilt thou do after me ?’’—' I will not wash and I will not comb me,” says she to him, “until I see thee again.”—“ Again hast thou spoken a lie and thy word has come forth in deception. If a month comes and a month goes, thou washest and combest thee and forgettest me out of thy mind. Again did I ask thee, Anhar, by the first bed in which we both lie: If I leave my body, tell me, what wilt — thou do after me?”—‘TI will put on no new garments,” she answers him, “ until I see thee again.” —*“ Again hast thou spoken Haiyé = the Living or Life’s R. In the Qolasté or Liturgies there is a R’hum-Hai twice mentioned; he is ‘ Life’s Beloved,’ one of the four Song of Light, or alternately of Salvation. Nsab is elsewhere (§ 4, 8) called N.-Ziwa, that is Radiant N.; he is regarded as the Great Watcher (§ 9), and his name means ‘ Planter,’‘ Fashioner.’ Sam is also called S.-Haiyé, S. the Living; he too is ‘Watcher of the eons’ (G. R. 313, 12ff.), and his name means ‘ Stablisher.’ Anhar-Ziwa or the Radiant A. is feminine (ep. § 69, nye the name might possibly remind us of the Zoroastrian Anahita, Anaitis, Anhar is elsewhere called the ‘ Hidden Light,’ and her name means ‘ Lightener.’ Can she then have any connection with the Iexai or Yechai, the complement of Elxai (the ‘ Hidden Power’), mentioned by Epiphanius? The muddledup account of the Elchaszans in the heresiological Fathers seems to me to have a close connection with Mandzan notions (see my D. J. L. 100 B.C. ? —ch. xviii, ‘ Concerning the Book of Elxai,’ pp. 365-387 (London, 1903),

and Brandt’s study, Hichasai: en Religionsstifter wnd sein Werk (Leipzig, 1912). The second Sharrath is evidently a doublet. I “Why dost thou not tell me all, Yahya,” says she to him; ‘and how sorely thou bruisest the whole of my body! If thou dost depart, when wilt thou return, that my eyes may fall upon thine ?”—“ If a woman in labour descends into Shedl’ and a bell is hung up for her in the graveyard. If they paint apicture in Sheol, and she then goes forth and they give a feast in the graveyard. If a bride parades round in Shedl, and they celebrate marriage in the graveyard. If the wedding-companions borrow in Shedl, and the paying-back takes place in the graveyard.” *

Then answered she him: “My lord, how shall it be that a woman inlabour . . . ” [and soon, repeating the above]. “Tf thou knowest,” he makes answer unto her, “that this does never happen, why dost thou press me with asking: When dost thou return? I- go hence and return not. Happy the day when thou dost still see me. If there were a going-away and returning, then would no widow be found in this world. If there were a going-away and returning, then would no fatherless be found in the world. If there were a going-away and returning, then no Nazoreans would be found in the world.”’ Thereon Anhar opened her mouth and spake to Yahya in Jerusalem: “I will buy thee for dear gold a brick grave’ and have a boxing of wood‘ joinered together for thee in the graveyard.” But Yahya opened his mouth and spake to Anhar in Jerusalem : “Why wilt thou buy a brick grave for dear gold and have a boxing of wood joinered for me in the graveyard? Art sure that I am

2 It was the popular custom apparently, which, however, the Mandzans did not follow, when a woman was in labour, to ring a bell to ward off evil influences (cp. the Egyptian sistrum) ; and a picture (or pantacle) also, with a similar apotropaic purpose, was painted. If the birth was successful, a birth-feast was given. It was also the custom, when bride and groom were poor, for their friends to borrow money or go bail for the expenses of the wedding-festivities. returning, that thou dost say: Nodust shallfallon him? Instead of buying a brick grave for dear gold, go rather and share out for me bread. Instead of getting a boxing joinered together, go rather and read for me masses for the departed.”

Thereon Anhar opened her mouth and spake to Yahya in Jerusalem: “Thou dost go hence and forget me, and I shall be cut off in the Sinners’ Dwelling.’”” [But Yahya answered her:] “If I forget thee, may the Light Dwelling forget me. If I forget thee, may my eyes not fall on Abathur. If I ascend to Life’s House, thy wailing will arise in the graveyard.” Yahya proclaims in the nights, Yohana on the Night’s evenings. YAHYA proclaims in the nights and speaks: “The [heavenly] wheels and chariots quaked. Harth and Heaven weep and the tears of the Clouds flow down.” “My father,” says Yahya, “was ninety and nine and my mother eighty and eight years old. Out of the basin of Jordan they’ took me. They bore me up and laid me in the womb of Bnishbai. ‘ Nine months,’ said they, ‘thou shalt stay in her womb, as do all other children.’* No wise woman,” * said he, “brought me into the world in Judea, and they have not cut my cord in Jerusalem. They made for me no picture of lies, and for me hung up no bell of deceit.’ I was born from Enishbai in the region of Jerusalem.”

The region of Jerusalem quakes and the wall of the priests rocks. HElizar, the great house, stands there and his body trembles. The Jews gather together, come unto Old Father Zakbria and they speak to him: “O Old Father Zakhria, thou art to have ason. Tell us now, what name shall we give him? Shall we give him for name ‘ Yaqif of Wisdom,’ that he may teach the Book in Jerusalem? Or shall we give him for name ‘Zatan the Pillar,’* so that the Jews may swear by him and commit no deceit ?”’ When BEnishbai heard this, she cried out and she said: “ Of all these names which you name, will I not give him one; but the name Yahya-Yohana will I give him, [the name] which Life’s self has given unto him.”

When the Jews heard this, they were filled with wicked anger against her and said: “ What weapon shall we make ready for [a certain] one’ and his mother, that he be slain by our hand ?”’ When Anodsh,’ the treasure,’ heard this he took the child and brought it to Parwan, the white mountain, to Mount Parwan, on which sucklings and little ones on holy drink are reared up.’ [There I remained] until I was two and twenty years old. T learned there the whole of my wisdom and made fully my own the 4 Uthra (iitrd) is a frequently occurring general term in Mandean, of which the precise meaning has not yet been determined; L. leaves it untranslated. Uthra means literally ‘ Riches,’ ‘Wealth’; and may very well then stand for the notion of Treasure. It might even convey the idea of Fulness (Gk. Plérdma), but this is hazardous. The difficulty with Treasure is that there are also two technical M. terms for Treasure, Treasury or Treasure-house (sc. of Liie, cp. § 57, forewords). Uthra seems sometimes to equate with Angel; but again this has a term for itself (malaka). In any case it means a heavenly or spiritual being, excarnate or incarnate, and therefore the phrase signifies the Heavenly or Spiritual Enoch. See L.’s dissertation, ‘ Uthra und Malaka,’ in Orientalische Studien Theodor Noldeke zwm siebzigsten Geburtstag (12 Marz, 1906) gewidmet (Giessen, 1906), pp. 537-545.

®> Cp. with the above threat of killing and the removal of the child the ‘Slaughter of the Innocents’ and the ‘ Flight into Egypt’ motives of the parallel Christian stories. The ‘little ones’ is elsewhere found frequently in Mandan as a technical term for the initiates of the community. The sacred drink, the mambihd of the M. ‘ eucharist,’ doubtless throws back to the Mazda-yasnian hadma. Parwan is mentioned only in this passage. It may, however, be a clerical error; for occasionally mention is made of a land ealled the ‘pure Tarwan.’ Or is it Mt. Karmel? 6 The numbers 99, 88, and 22 seem to belong to some system of mystic psephology, or gematria as the Kabalists afterwards called it. Cp. the 888 value of the name of Christ in the second-century system of the Gnostic Markos and the 666 of the Beast in the Apocalypse. I would suggest, though with hesitation, that 10’s, 100’s and 1000’s represent ‘ powers,’ i.e. so-called higher or wider planes of activity or development, and digits certain fundamental characteristics. In this connection it is of interest to note that such numbers as 1111, 2222, occur in classical Pythagorean

whole of my discourse. They clothed me with vestures of glory and veiled me with cloud-veils.. They wound round me a girdle,’ of [living] water a girdle, which shone beyond measure and glistened. They set me within a cloud, a cloud of splendour, and in the seventh hour of a Sunday they brought me to the Jerusalem region. Then cried a voice in Judea, a crying proclaimed in Jerusalem. They call out: “What woman had a son, who then was stolen? What woman has made for him a vow’ and been heedless about it? What woman had a son, who was stolen? Let her come and see after her son.” | Who told Battai, who instructed Battai, who told Battai to go and say to Hnishbai: “ A youth has come to Judea, a prophet come to Jerusalem. A youth has come to Judea; his guardian angel stands by him. His mouth is like thee and his lips [like] his father, Old Father Zakhria. His eyes are like thee and his brows [like] his father, Old Father Zakhria. His nose is like thee and his hands [like] his father, Old Father Zakhria.”’

When Enishbai heard this, she hurried out veil-less. When Old Father Zakhria saw her thus, he wrote her a bill of divorcement. The Sun down-murmured from heaven and the Moon from its place mid the stars. The Sun opened his mouth and spake to Old Father Zakhria in Jerusalem: “Old Father Zakhria, thou great dotard (?), who has grown old and lost his wits, like an Arab whom his kismet has forsaken. A youth has come to Judea, a prophet come to Jerusalem. <A youth has come to Judea; why dost thou send Enishbai away ?”’ When the youth saw her alone, he set himself free and fell down from the cloud. He set himself free and fell down from the cloud and kissed the mouth of Enishbai. When Andsh, the treasure, saw him [do this], he spake unto Yahya in Jerusalem: “Stands it for thee written in thy book, is it declared unto thee

® Presumably before his birth, and perhaps dedicating him to God as a Nazir. on thy page, to kiss her alone, on the mouth ?’’—Thereon answered Yahya and spake unto Andsh, the treasure, in Jerusalem: “ Nine months I abode in her womb,’ so long as all other children abide there, without any reluctance on her part; therefore is it no charge against me now to kiss her alone, on the mouth. Nay, hail and again hail to the man who repays father and mother in full. A man who recompenses father and mother, has not his like in the world.” When Yahya said this, Anésh, the treasure, knew that Yahya is wise. Thereon And6sh, the treasure, spake to the Sun in Jerusalem: “Take for me care of the youth, the Man, who is sent by the King. Take for me care of the youth, until we ask for him.” Then Andsh, the treasure, spake to the Moon in Jerusalem: “Take for me care of the youth, the Man, who is sent by the King. ‘Take for me care of the youth, until we ask for him.”

Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither.

Yahya proclaims in the nights, Yohanai on the Night’s evenings. YAHYA proclaims and speaks: “Stand I not alone ? Because of my voice the [heavenly] wheels quake and the chariots capsize. The tempest became silent and settled down in the world’s deserts. Sun and Moon wail, and Earth and Heaven mourn.” Messiah opened his mouth and spake to Yahya in Jerusalem : 1 Cp. Pistis Sophia (p. 115; Mead?, p. 97), where Jesus is made to say to his mother: “ Thou, also, Mary, hast received form which is in Barbélo {the Great Mother], according to matter, and hast received likeness which is in the Virgin of Light, according to light . . . ; and on thy account the darkness hath arisen, and moreover out of thee did come forth the material body in which I am, which I have purified and refined.” Again (p. 120; M. p.100): “Mary, my mother according to matter, thou in whom I have sojourned.” And again, Mary speaking (p. 123; M. p. 103): ‘ ‘ Grace and Truth met together,’—it is I, Mary, thy mother, and Elizabeth, mother of John, whom I have met. ‘Grace’ then is the power of Sabadth in me, which went forth out of me, which thouart. . . . . ‘Truth’ on the other hand is the power in Elizabeth, which is John, who did come and hath made proclamation concerning the way of Truth {the M. Kushta] which thou art,—who hath made proclamation before thee.”

“T asked thee, Yahya, by Great Life and by Sunday, whose name is dear. I asked thee Yahya, by the Way, whereby the Men of piety put to the test go without hindrance. Tell me: To what is the shape of Sauriél’s' knife like? Tell me: If the soul leaves the body, with what is it clothed, and to what is it like in the vain body? Surely the soul is not possibly like the blood, that it should become heated in the body and come to a stop in it? Surely the soul is not possibly like the wind, that it should fare to the mountains, be lost there and come toa stop? Surely the soul is not possibly like the dew, that it should fall on the fruit and be lost ?”’

When Messiah said this, Yahya cries aloud; tears come to him without ceasing, and he speaks: “ [God] forbid that the high King of Light should look for lot in deceivers. The soul is not like the blood, that it should become heated in the body and come to a stop. The soul is not like the dew, that it should fall on the fruit and be lost. The soul is not like the wind, that it should fare to the mountains and come to a stop. Firmly developed has the soul been brought into the vain body. If the soul has kept herself perfect, she ascends in a garment of glory. ‘Sauriél’s knife consists of three flames.” When he (§8) drives her (the soul) to hasten, so as to bear her away, he lets loose the three flames against her. One he lets loose against her in the evening, the other at cock-crow; the third lets he loose *gainst her at the coming-forth of the rays. If the fire begins to be fierce, the soul slips out of the feet and the knees. Out of the feet and the knees slips she, and draws nigh to the hips. Thereon leaves she the hips, reaches the heart, and seeks to keep there her ground. Then falls she into the breast, andit squeezes... . The eyes, the face and the lips of the man twitch, and the Loneue twists hither and thither.

“Then Sauriél sits on the eyebrows; [he sits] and speaks to her: ‘Go hence, O Soul! Why dost thou still watch over the body ?’—Then says she to him: “Thou wilt hale me, Sauriél, out of the body. First show me my vesture [and clothe me therewith]; then hale me out and hence bring me.’-—' First bring me ® Cp. the flaming sword of the Hebrew form of the Paradise-myth. thy works and thy wage,’ makes he answer to her; ‘then will I show thee thy vesture and clothe thee. — I knew not, O Sauriél,’ says she to him, ‘that my time is come, and they then send quickly for me, for doing good works, so that thou mayest bring me my vesture and clothe me therewith.’—Natheless he made answer unto her: ‘ Has no one yet died before thee and have they not yet carried forth anyone to the graveyard ?’—Thereon she says to him: ‘Through the power of him who has died before me, and through the power of him whom they have carried forth to the graveyard .. . ed tole Beta

““{The women] who wept ran hither and thither and [the men] who wailed ran hither and thither, as long as the body lay there before them. When the soul leaves the body, four’ go forth to the graveyard. [The women] who wept ran hither and thither, the men who wailed ran hither and thither; and they ran hither and thither crying, until they lowered it into the pit. When they had lowered the vain body and covered it over [sc. with earth], then the women ceased from their death-wail. They filled up the pit, and the men went away... ... .. In haste left they the body and grave and went away; they took hold of cup and ate bread and forgot the vain body.—Now, an thou wilt, Sauriél, let me stay here still two days. Then will I sell the whole of my goods and share out among my sons, and will take my vesture with me, the robe that ascends to Light’s region.’

“Natheless Sauriél returned answer unto her: ‘Is there a child that has left the womb of its mother, and that they shall have brought back again into its mother, that I should leave thee in the Wicked Ones’® Dwelling, so that thou mayest see after a sharing among thy sons? I will lead thee hence and put the robe of darkness upon [thee], for that thou hast not let thyself be warned in this world, and hast not loved thy way to Light’s region. Therefore shalt thou be put in ward in the House of the Wicked, till Heaven and Earth pass away.’”’ ? Unexplained; it may possibly mean two female and two male professional mourners.

In the Name of Great Life, may hallowed Light be glorified. MIRYAI am J, of the Kings of Babel’ a daughter, a daughter of Jerusalem’s mighty rulers. They have given me birth; the priests brought me up. In the fold of their robe they carried me up into the dark house, into the temple. Adonai laid a charge on my hands and on my two arms: I must scour and cleanse the house [that is] without firmness. There is naught therein for supporting the poor, naught to revive the tormented souls. My father went to the house of the people, my mother went to the temple. My father went out and said to me, and my mother went out and charged me: “ Miryai, close thy inner doors and bolt the bar. See that thou goest not forth into the main streets and that the suns of my Lord’ fall not upon thee.”

But I, Miryai, listened not to what my mother did tell me, and hearkened not with the ear to what my father did charge me. I opened the inner doors, and the outer let I stand open. Out went I into the main streets and the suns of my Lord fell upon me. To the house of the people would I not go, but my way bore me unto the temple [sc. of the Mandzans]. I went and I found my brothers and sisters, how they stand and carry on proclamations. My brothers carry on proclamations and my sisters throw out explanations.’ With the voice of their proclamations and with the voice of their explanations I became drowsy and laid me down on the spot.’ My brothers went forth and did not wake me, and my sisters withdrew and roused me not. But. thou, my sister in Truth,’ dost rouse me from sleep and dost say: “ Arise, arise, Miryai, before the day breaks and the cock lets crow his morn-call, before the sun shines and his glory rises over the

Cp. the prophesyings and interpretations of Early Christendom*and the ‘ glossolaly ’ of the earliest Pauline communities. worlds, before the priests and the priests’ sons go forth and sit them down in the shade of the Ruins—Jerusalem, before thy father comes and brings upset upon thee such as thou never hast had.” Karly, day began to dawn, early the cock let crow his call, early the sun shone and his glory rose over the worlds. The priests and priests’ sons went out and sat them down in the shade of the Ruins—Jerusalem. Then came my bodily father and brought on me upset such as I never have had. He spake: “Where hast come from, thou debauched trough, whom [2 locks] and bars [cannot keep in] ? Where hast thou come from? Woe [unto thee], thou bitch in heat, who [? mindest] not [door-]pins and lockings! Where hast thou come from ? Woe, woe [unto thee], thou bit of coarse stuff that has been patched on my robe!”

“Tf I am a debauched trough, I will burst thy [boltings] and bars. If I am a bitch in heat, I will draw back the pins and the lockings. If I ama bit of coarse stuff that has been patched on thy robe, then out of thy robe cut and rip me.” Thereon he cried: “Come (pl.), look on Miryai, who has left Jewry and gone to make love with her lord. Come, look on Miryai, who has left off coloured raiment and gone to make love with her lord. She forsook gold and silver and went to make love with her lord. She forsook the phylacteries’ and went to make love with the man with the head-band.’’? | Then Miryai makes answer unto him: “Far lies it from me to love him whom I have hated. Far lies it from me to hate him whom I have loved. Nay, far from me lies it to hate my Lord, the Life’s Gnosis, who is for me in the world a support. A support is he in the world for me and a helper in the Light’s region. Dust in the mouth of the Jews, ashes in the mouth of all of the priests! May the dung that is under the feet of the horses, come on the high ones and Jerusalem’s mighty rulers.”

Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither. 1 Tutifti=Heb. tefillim. 2 Cp. § 22, ‘the pure burzingd,’ and J. B., pp, 380! and 50." A VARIANT OF THE ABOVE FROM THE OXFORD MS. (L.’s J. B., PP, 123-125). In the name of Great Life, may hallowed Light be glorified. AT the door of the house of the people her mother came upon Miryai. Her mother came upon Miryai and put question to her: “Whence com’st thou, my daughter, Miryai, whose face gathers roses ? Roses gathers thy face and of sleep are thy eyesfull. Full of sleep are thy eyes, and upon thy forehead lies slumber.”’ Thereon she made answer: “It is two,—three days to-day that my brothers sat down in the house of my Father. In my Father’s house sat down my brothers and let wonderful proclamations be heard. Because of the voice and the ringing of the proclamation of the treasures, my brothers, there comes no sleep over my eyes. Sleep comes not over my eyes, nor slumber upon my forehead.”

“ Hast thou not heard, Miryai, my daughter, what the Jews are saying about thee? The Jews are saying: Thy daughter has fallen in love with a man. She has gotten hate against Jewry and love for Nazoreanity. Hate has she gotten against the house of the people and love for the door of the temple (sc. of the MM.). Hate has she gotten against the phylacteries and love for the flaunting wreaths. Work does she on Sabbath; on Sunday she keeps her hands still. Miryai has cast aside straightway the Law that the Seven have laid [upon us].”’ As Miryai stands there, she puts dust on her feet, and speaks: “Dust in the mouth of the Jews and ashes in the mouth of all of the priests! May the dung that lies under the horses, come on the elders who are in Jerusalem! I cannot hate him whose love I have won, nor love him ’gainst whom I have gotten hate. Yea, I have won the love of my Lord the Life’s Gnosis, [and hope] that in him a helper will for me arise, a helper and a support from the region of Darkness unto Light’s region.”

Thou hast won the victory, Gnosis of Life, and helped all thy friends to victory. THE EXILED COMMUNITY SETTLE ON THE EUPHRATES (§ 85). In the Name of Great Life, may hallowed Light be glorified. MIRYAI am I, a vine, a tree, who stands at the mouth of Bu-phrates (Frash). The tree’s leaves are precious stones, the tree’s fruits pearls. The vine-tree’s foliage is glory, its shoots precious light. Among the trees its scent it diffuses, and it spreads over all the worlds. The birds of the air scented it; a flock settled down on the tree. A flock on it down-settled, and they would build their nest there. They flutter about in it and settle not down in it firmly. Of its foliage they eat from its inner part they drink wine. They eat what is not to be cast away, and drink what was not wine.’

While the birds sat on the vine, winds and tempests broke loose. They shook the good birdlets awake, they smote ’gainst the tree; on all sides they scattered the leaves of the vine-tree and scared the birds out of their place. Many a bird there was who flew not away, but held on fast with claws and with wings, till the winds and the tempests were over. Many again held not on fast and were hurried away... . Woe unto those who did not hold fast, but were dashed from the tree and flew off. How fair is the tree of Life and fair the birds who dwell on it ! The winds and the tempests passed and rest came over the world.

As the birds sit there and chirp and would be a-building their nest, as the birds sit on the vine, an eagle wheeled and flew hither. A white eagle-bird’ came, looked down and caught sight of the birds. Round wheeled he, sped down on them with his wings, and came and sat on the tree. In converse with him joined the birds, and said to him: “By thy Life, Eagle! On this tree were we birds without number.—But there broke loose against them the winds, and on the tree came raging tempests. They shook them off from the tree, so that they tore their wings from them [nearly]. Many a one held fast, whom the winds and tempests could not tear away; but many a one flew off at top speed.—We speak to thee, therefore,

O Eagle, we ask thee respecting the birds, because thou art sharp of sight and dost see all in this world: What have the winds and the tempests done with those birds, our brothers? What spyest thou out (?) over them ?” _ Then made he answer unto them: “ You had better not to have known, my brothers, what has become of those birds. Slingshots drove them far from me; their wings broke; torn off were they, broken off; they went hence and relied on the bird-catchers.’ The harrier and hawk wheeled round them, tore pieces out of their flesh and fed on those who were fat. Woe to those who fell prey to the water,’ if there was no portion for them at the crossing. Well for you, ye birds, who hold fast to this vine [here]; you became a companionship of Miryai, the vine, who stands at the mouth of Euphrates. See and satisfy yourselves, ye birds, that I have come to you. I have come to my brothers to be a support for them in this world. I have come to heal Miryai, [come] to bring water to the good, beloved plants, to the vines, who stand at the mouth of Euphrates. In a white’ pail I draw water and bring it to my plants. I bear and I hold [it] on the arms of glory which are my own. I bear and I hold [it] and give [them] to drink. Well for him who has drunk of my water. He drinks, finds healing and confirmation, and grows to double [his stature]. The vines who drank water, brought forth good fruit. Their leaves turned on high and made a brave show. ‘The branches which drank no water, brought forth bitter herbs and wormwood (?). Woe to those who have not gone forward upon the Way; woe to those who have not passed on by the way-stone ! They hated Life’s Treasure-House,’ Miryai, the dear Truth.

“ My brothers, hold fast, be a companionship of Miryai. I will look round in the world, let Life’s call sound forth and rouse the sleeping and wake [them].” The eagle flew off from the tree; he wheeled round and instructed his friends. He speaks to them: “Give ear to me, my brothers! Stay fast and endure persecution. Be a companion ship to Miryai. Woe to the Jews, who were a persecution for Miryai! Woe to Hlizar, the great house, the pillar that props the temple! Woe to Zatan, the pillar,’ who has witnessed lies against Miryai !”’ THE JEWS PERSECUTE THE MANDZANS (§ 85 CONTD.). ALL the Jews gathered together, the teachers, the great and the little; they came [together] and spake of Miryai:

“She ran away from the priests, fell in love with a man, and they took hold of each other’s hands. Hold of each other’s hands they took, went forth and settled at the mouth of Euphrates. We will slay them and make Miryaiscorned in Jerusalem. Astake’ will we set up for the man who has ruined Miryai and led her away. There shall be no day in the world when a stranger’ enters Jerusalem.” They split open their fellings and catch the doves in Jerusalem.’ THEY BEG THEM TO RETURN (§ 35 CONTD.). ALL the Jews gathered together and followed after Miryai. They went and found that a throne was set up for Miryai on the bank of Euphrates. A white standard was for her unfurled and a book stood upright on her lap. She reads in the Books of Truth and rouses all worlds from their sleep. She holds in her hand the staff of Life’s water; the girdle is bound round her loins. Miryai in humbleness prays and proclaims with wondrous voice. The fishes gather out of the sea, the birds’ from the mouth of Kuphrates. They come to hear Miryai’s voice, and no more long to lie down to sleep. They breathe in the sweet scent around her and forget the world.

When the Jews saw this, they stood up before her. They felt shamed, doubled their fists, smote on the fore-court of their breast and lamented. The mother of Miryai spake, and tears streamed into her bosom. “Took on me, Miryai, my daughter,” says she unto her; “Jook on me who am thy mother! My daughter art thou and the daughter of all of the priests. Thy head is the great chief of the temple. Rememberest thou not, Miryai, that the Torah lay on thy lap? Thou didst open it, read therein and knewest what stands init. The outer keys lay in thy hands, and the inner thou didst put in chains.’ All the priests and priests’ sons came and kissed thy hand. For whom thou wouldst, thou didst open the door; whom thou wouldst not, must turn and go back to his seat. A thousand stand there and two thousand sit there. They submit themselves to thee, as a eunuch-made slave, and they give ear to thy word in Jerusalem. Why didst thou forget thy brothers and thy heart abandon the priests? Lo, the brides weep in Judea, the women and men in Jerusalem. Their beloved gold have they cast from them, and they give themselves up to wailing and mourning for thee. They say: ‘We will make away with our goods, until Miryai returns. Gold forge we [? no longer], and cast away fair raiments of silk and bracelets (?).’ They stand on the roofs and look out, that they may see thee again in Jerusalem. For thee they make vows, if thou comest to me and we go hence. My daughter, arise, come back to thy dwelling-place, the city Jerusalem. Come, light up thy lamps, which have been put out from the day when thou withdrewest thyself.” Have no longing after this man, who has prisoned thee and taken thee off. Leave

* Compare with the above eloquent invitation to return the similar motive in the Talmitd Jesus stories: (1) ‘‘ When King Jannai directed the destruction of the Rabbis, R. Joshua ben Perachiah and Jeshu went to Alexandria. When security returned, R. Simeon ben Shetach sent him a letter to this effect: ‘From me, Jerusalem the holy city, to thee, Alexandria in Egypt, my sister. My spouse tarries in thee, and I dwell desolate’” (Bab. Sanhedrim, 107b, Sota, 47a). (2) “The inhabitants of Jerusalem intended to appoint Jehuda ben Tabbai as Nasi [Prince or President of the Sanhedrim] in Jerusalem. He fied and went away to Alexandria, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem wrote: ‘From Jerusalem the Great to Alexandria the Little: How long lives my betrothed with thee, whilst I am sitting grieving for him?’” (Pal. Chagiga, 77d). See my D.J.L 100 B.C. ?—pp. 187#f., 148ff.—for a discussion of these passages. Can Tabbai possibly in any way connect with the Tab-Yomin of the Portentspiece § 18?

the man, who is not of thy dwelling-place,' alone by himself in the world. Let him not say: I have gone and carried off Miryai from her place. Come, teach the children, so that they may learn. Lay the Torah in thy lap and let us hear thy voice as it used to be. From the moment and the day when thou didst detach the dough’ has it been covered up a When Miryai pie this pal her mother, she laughed and rejoiced in her mind. “It surely could not be the Jews,’ says she unto her, “the infamous, worthless priests! It surely would not be the Jews who stand there and bow down to a brick-grave !” They shall be buried in the Darkness.

“Go, go,” says she unto them, “ye fools, ye abortions,’ ye who were not of the world. I am no woman who is stripped for wantoning; and it is not that I have fallen in love with a man. Stripped am I not for returning to you and for again seeing you, doming of blasphemy. Go, go hence from me, ye who have witnessed falsehood and lying against me. Against me ye wit- 8 Cp. L.’s note (p. 114’), referring to the above-quoted (p. 68, n. 2) Talmid passage (1), where the same bowing down is recorded of Jeshu, namely: ‘he set up a brick-bat and worshipped it.” LL. again prefers to render the two words here as ‘vault’ simply. The Talmitid puzzle has never been solved ; but the passage of the J. B. above (p. 55) connects it with a coffin, and strongly suggests an Egyptian atmosphere. Cp. now what Josephus (Antigq. I. ii.; Cory’s An. Fragg. pp. 171, 172), Hebraizing the Egyptian tradition, says of the Sons of Séth (=Sothis=Sirius), how ‘“ they made two {kinds of] monuments, one of brick and the other of stone, and on each engraved their discoveries.’”’ This passage is from Manetho’s lost work Sothis, on the authenticity of which and its implications, I would refer the reader to my lengthy researches in Thrice-greatest Hermes, i. 99-127: the above passage will be found on p. 114. From this I would venture to suggest that the Talmid charge against Jeshu of learning ‘ magic’ in Egypt is reflected in the queer term ‘brick-bat’ or ‘bricking.’ According to Manetho’s legend or tradition the most ancient lore of the priests, of the period of the First Thoth or Hermes, before the Flood, was preserved in the most primitive brick pyramids. The pyramids were originally tombs. That my suggested version is in the right direction is borne out by the following sentence of the text: ‘They shall be burved in the Darkness.”

> This is presumably ironical = “ who thought that ye were not of this world.” nessed wantonness and thieving, and held me up as ye are yourselves. Blessed be the Man who freed me from my fetters and planted my feet here. No wantonness have I committed with him and attempted no theft in the world. Instead of the witness ye have witnessed against me, there came to me prayer and praise-giving.”’ As the priests stand there and speak with Miryai at the mouth of Euphrates, there came a pure eagle-bird, whose wings are the fulness of worlds.’ He flew down on the Jews, dashed at them with his wings, bound them and sank them down unto the water’s bottom, deeper [down] than the foul-smelling mud. He sank them deeper down than the blazing [water], that is inside the dark water. He sank their ships down to the blazing water’s bottom. He destroyed the temple and laid fire to Jerusalem.”

He brought downfall upon them and in Jerusalem slew the disciples. He descended unto her (Miryai), folded before her his wings, settled down by her, narrated and proclaimed to her; and they held out the loved hand of Truth to each other. He embraced her in potent embracing, forced her down and set her on the throne. “ Miryai,” he speaks to her, “with favour look upon me, remember me in the Life’s presence. Iam thy Good Messenger, the Man, who gives ear to thy discourse. I beseech thee for the high Truth, the Truth which the Jordans have chosen.” ““O Good Treasure,” she makes answer unto him, “ Treasure whom Life has sent! Thy glory and thy light has risen upon us, and thy honour is approved in Light’s region. Hveryone who gives ear to thy voice, will be in the pure region included. In Life’s Treasury will he be included and thy rays will rise lover him] twofold. For everyone who gives not ear to thy voice, waking and sleep will be wiped out. Let him belong to the Jews, to the slaves and all of the priests, the sons of the Harlot. I and thou will circle aloft and victorious mount to Light’s region.”

May Life be our pledge, and Life is victorious. UNDER the first two headings readers have been made acquainted with all those pieces from the Mandan John-Book that can be held to have in any sense a historic intention. To these are now added a few extracts of such specimens of the rest of the contents as do not require a commentary. We will begin with ‘The Fisher of Souls’ tractate from the John-Book. It seems to me to throw great light on the symbolic phrase of the gospels, indeed to give it a background, and not to be explained in reverse order as the Mandzan expansion of an isolated Christian expression. In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified.

A FISHER am I, a Fisher who elect is among fishers. A Fisher am I who among the fishers is chosen, the Head of all catchers of fish. I know the shallows of the waters, the inner : and the . . . I fathom; I come to the net-grounds, to the shallows and all fishing-spots, and search the marsh in the dark all over. My boat is not cut off [from the others] and I shall not be stopped in the night. I see the fish’ in (? on) the dike. I pressed forward on the way witha .. . that was notofiron. I covered (?) the which was for us an obstruction. Aside did I push the swimmers

who hinder Life’s way. On my headI seLupa . . . in whose shadow the fish sit. The fisher-trident which I have in my hand, is instead a margnad select, a staff of pure water, at whose sight tremble the fishers. I sit in a boat of glory and come into this world (Tibil) of the fleeting. I come to the water’s surface; thither to the surface of the water I drew, and I drew to the crossing’s surface. I come ina . . . ,inslow, steady course. The water by my boat is not ruffled, and no sound of my boat is heard. Before me stands Hibil (Abel), at my side Shitil (Seth) of sweet name is to be seen, close by me, close in front of me, Anésh (Enoch) sits and proclaims.

Close by me, close near my boat, I hear the uproar (?) of the fishers, the fishers who eat fish,’ and their stench rushes on me,— the uproar of the fishers and the uproar of their mongers who revile and curse one another. Everyone accuses the other. The buyer says to the fisher: “ [Take back ?] thy fish! They are stinking already, and no one wants to buy them off of me. Thou makest the catch far out at sea, so that loss falls on the buyer.” Thereon speaks the fisher and makes the man, his customer, hear: “A curse on thee, a curse on thy buyers, a curse on thy bell,’ a curse on thy boat for not filling up. Thou hast brought no salt and sprinkled it over thy fish which thou boughtest, so that the fish of thy boat will not be stinking and thou then canst sell for hard cash. Next, hast thou no meal and no dates brought, no salt . . . hast thou brought. If then thou comest with empty hands, one who is of fair favour has no dealing with thee. Go, go, thou godless [fellow], buy not from us to do business with thy fraudulent scales. Thou holdest them down to buy at false weight, [then in selling] keepest them up with thy elbow and gettest ten for five. Now does thy buying flee away, and thy buyer, and is as though it never had been. Thou dost complain of the . . . of men and dost cherish no noble thought.”

When the Chief Fisher, the Head of the race of the Living, the highest of all catchers of fish, heard this, he said to him (? Anésh): “Bring me my .. . , hand me the squbra,' that I may make a call sound forth into the marsh, that I may warn the fish of the depths and scare away the foul-smelling birds that pursue after my fish. I will catch the great sidmd,’ and tear off his wings on the spot. I will take from him * * * and will blow into my squbrad. A true squbrad is it, so that the water may not mix with pitch.” When the fishers heard the call, their heart fell down from its stay. One calls to the other and speaks to him: “Go into thy inner ground. For there is the call of the Fisher, the Fisher who eats no fish. His voice is not like that of a fisher, his sgubra not like our squbrd. His voice is not like our voice, his discourse not like to this world.”

But the fishers stand there; they seek not shelter in their inner ground. As the fishers stand there and are thinking it over, the Fisher came swiftly upon them ; he opened the cast-net, divided ... . He cast them bound intothe... . He tied them up with knots. They speak to him: “Free us from our bonds, so that thy fish may not leap up to our boat. We catch not those who name thy Name.” When the fishers thus spake to me, I smote them with a club made of iron. I bound their traders on the shore which lends not... (?). I roped them with ropes of bast and broke up their ships * * * * . I burnt up the whole of their netting and the. . . which holds the nets together. I threw chains round them and hung them up aft on my ship’s stern. I made them take an oath, took from them their mystery, in order that they may not catch the good fish,—that they may not steal them from me, stick them on a cane, hang them up,’ cut them in pieces and throw them into baskets (?) with laurel and aloe. They (the

fishers) are laid low and cannot rise up. The nets... ..., and they no longer stab the fisher-trident into the Jordan. They do not cut off * * * * * * and stand not in the river-lands and make not their catch in the shallows. They cast not the cast-net therein and take not . .. and aloe. I spake to those who eat the ... of the fish whose name is eel. They eat the eel and the... , which stands upright on its forefeet. They eat the... ... OE tu ag eye ba | them in the marshes of Deception, and ye were caught and were tied up. Water from the Ulai they drink not and know not the way to the Kshash river.. I bound them fast in their ships, and threw out my ropes to the good ones. To them I speak: “ Draw your boat up here, so that it runs not into the dike.”

As the Chief of the fish-catchers thus spake, the fishers made answer unto him and said; “ Blessed be thou, O Fisher, and blessed be thy boat and thy bark. How fair is thy cast-net, how fair the yarn that is init. Fair is thy cord and thy lacing, thou who art not like the fishers of this world. On thy meshes are no shell-fish, and thy trident catches no fish. Whence art thou come hither? Tell us! We will be thy hired servants. We will bake and stir about broth and bring it before thee. Hat, and the crumbs which fall from thy hand,—these will we eat and therewith be filled.” But I made answer unto them: “O ye fishers, who lap up your filth, no fisher am I who fishes for fish, and I was not formed for an eater of filth. A Fisher am I of souls who bear witness ta Life. A Poor Fisher am I who calls to the souls, collects them together and gives them instruction. He calls to them and bids them come and gather together unto him. He says unto them: If ye. . . come, ye shall be saved from the foul-smelling birds I will save my friends, bring them on high and in my ship make them stand upright. I will clothe them with vestures of glory and with precious light will enwrap them. I will put a crown of ether upon them and what else for them the Greatness erects on their head. Then sit they on thrones and in precious light do they glisten.' I bear them thither and raise them aloft; but ye Seven shall stay here behind. The portion of filth and of filthy

doings shall be your portion. On the day when the Light ascends, the Darkness will return to its region. I and my disciples will ascend and behold the Light’s region.” Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither. In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified. A FISHER am I of Great Life, a Fisher am I of the Mighty ; a Fisher am I of Great Life, an Envoy whom Life has sent. It (Life) spake unto me: “Go, catch fish who do not eat filth, fish who do not eat water-fennel and reek not of foul-smelling fennel. They do not come nigh to devour bad dates and get caught in the nets of the marsh.”

Life knotted for me a noose and built for me a ship that fades not,—a ship whose wings are of glory, that sails along as in flight, and from it the wings will not be torn off. ’Tis a wellfurnished ship and sails on in the heart of the heaven. Its ropes are ropes of glory and a rudder of Truth is there to it. Sunday takes hold of the pole, Life’s Son seized the rudder. They draw thither to the shekinahs and dispense Light among the treasures. Thrones in them (sc. the shekinahs) they set up, and long drawn out come the Jordans upon them. On the bow are set lamps that in the wildest of tempests are not put out. All ships that sight me, make obeisance submissively to me. Submissively they make me obeisance and come to show their devotion unto me.

In the bows stands the Fisher and delivers wondrous discourses. [There are] lamps [there], whose wicks shift not hither and thither, and a ... is not by him. He wears no ring of Deception, and with white robes is he clad. He calls to the fish of the sea and speaks to them: “ Give heed to yourselves in the world! Beware of the foul-smelling birds who are above you. If you give heed to yourselves, my brothers, I will for you be a succour,—a succour and a support out of the regions of Darkness unto Light’s region.” Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither. THE Goop FiSHER REJECTS THE OVERTURES OF THE EHVIL ONES AND OVERWHELMS THEM (§ 88).

In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified. THE Fisher clad him with vestures of glory, and an axe hung from his shoulder ... ... and commotion of mischief, and a bell is not on the handle.’ When the fishers caught sight of the Fisher, they came and gathered around him. “Thou art,” say they unto him, ‘a ... Fisher, thou who hast caught no fish of the marsh. Thou hast not seenthe ... ... in which thectiah eauher tye ys oe ee - 0 bee. e) Werwill maikeapiee familiar with the fishers ; He our great partner and take a share as we [do]. Grant us a share in thy ship, and take thou a share in our ship. A bargain! Take from us as partner and grant us a share in thy ship. Grant us a share and we will give thee a share in what we possess. Join thy ship with ours and clothe thee in black as we [do], so that, if thou holdest thy lantern on high, thou mayst find something, that the fish may not see thy glory and thy ship may take in fish. If thou dost give ear (to us), thou shalt catch fish, throw them into thy ship and do business. If thou givest no ear to our discourse, thou shalt eat salt; but if thou doest our works, thou shalt eat oil and honey. Thou stirrest a broth, thou fillest a bowl and sharest it with all of the fishers. We appoint thee as head over all of us. The fishers gather together beside thee, the first follow behind thee; they will be thy slaves, and thou takest three shares of what falls to our share. Our father shall be thy servant and we will call ourselves thy bondsmen. Our mother shall sit on thy couch (?)

and net nets, she shall be thy maid-servant and knit for thee yarns of all kinds. She shall space out the floats of cedar and put the lead-sinkers into the meshes,—meshes, meshes which are then more heavy than all of the world. She shall divide the water by means of the yarns, and when the fish run into them they shall be stopped. Then they know not the way that they seek, and have no wit to turn back to their way. Like walls that collapse, they (the nets) come and fall on the good. They do not let the fish rise, nor turn their face to the boulders. They make them sink deep under the mud and shut them into "ae ae They collect them into heaps and shake them (2) tie ofthe ... ... . Thereistherea ... ...,into which the fish dash and are stopped. On the ... ofthe ... wattlework is set up between two machines. Nets are laid down and

: . , which are filled with bad dates as bait, which cause en to eat death. Woe to the fish who is blinded by them, whose eye sees not the Light. Wise are the fish who know them. They pass by all of the baits. [The others] repair thither and . , and the nets will be for them there a lodging. One of a thousand sees it and of two thousand two see it. Its ... is closed, and a bell is hung on its side-door,—a bell that is forged in mischief and catches the whole of the world. There, is the water mingled with fennel ...... ... ... the pegs (?) of death. Woe to the fish who fall int andi

When the Fisher heard this, he stamped on the bows of the ship. The Fisher stamped on the ships of the fishers; the fishers lie in the shallows close crowded together, tied up together like bundles of wheat, and cannot rise up. The reeds swish ..., and the fish of the sea lie over the fishers. They snarl in the marsh and the water rings them round in its circle (?). Then shrilling he spake with his voice. He discoursed with his voice sublime and spake to the catchers of fish: ‘ Off from me, ® The numerous gaps which have to be left owing to uncertainty of translation make a number of the above sentences unintelligible. The concluding paragraphs are presumably an allegory of the attractions of false religions, and can hardly be thought to be part of the speech of the fishers.

Presumably as the waves made by the foundering ships reach the shore. ye foul-smelling fishers, ye fishers who mix poison. Begone, begone, catch fish, who [eat ?] your own filth. Down with you to your ... and go to the end of the crossing. I am no Fisher who catches fish, and my fish are tested. They are not caught by the hook with bad dates, a mess which [my ?] fish do not eat. They fall not into the nets that are coloured’ and turn not to the lamps of the Lie. They sink not down through the mud of the water, and go not after the ... of Deception. They (? the nets) divide not the water “ * * * * *, that shall fall on the good. If the fishers cast o’er them the cast-net, they tear asunder the net and set themselves free. There will be no day in this world on which the fishers catch [my ?] fish. There will be no day in this world on which the dove loves theravens. Accurséd be ye, ye foul-smelling birds, and accurséd your nest, so that it may not be filled. Woe to your father Sirma,’ whose bed is in the reeds. Woe to thee, hungry Safna, whose wings do not dry in this world.’ Woe to thee, foul-smelling Sagia, thou who seest the fish and sighest [for them]. He shrieks and cries bitterly, when he strikes for the fish and misses them. Woe to thee, Arbana.. ., thou who haulest the fish out of the deeps. Well for him who frees himself from the talons of those who catch fish. Well for him who frees himself from the men who are watchers of this world. Begone, begone with you, ye Planets, be of your own houses a portion. Water does not mix with pitch, and the Light is not reckoned as Darkness. The perfect ones’ partner cannot be called your partner. The good (sing.) cannot belong to the wicked (pl.) nor the bad to the good. Your ship cannot be tied up with mine, nor your ring (?) be laid on my ring. There, is the head of all of you; count yourselves unto his realm! This your crass father stays stuck in the black water. Your mother, who nets nets and heavy double machines, have I beaten with the staff of (living) water and smashed a hole in her head. I lead on my friends, raise them on high in my ship and guide them past all the tax-gatherers.’ I guide them through the passage of outrage,

Presumably because it is always diving after its prey. 4 Sc. the Seven. the region where the fishes are taken. I make them escape the fish-eaters. But ye will come to an end in your dwellings. I and my friends of the Truth will find a place in Life’s shekinah. Into the height will I bear them on thrones surrounded with standards of glory. The Seven are vanquished and the Stranger-Man stays victorious. The Man of piety put to the test was victorious and helped the whole of his race unto victory. Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither. THE FINAL SUBMISSION OF THE EVIL FISHERS (§ 39). In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified.

"TIS the voice of the Pure Fisher who calls and instructs the fish of the sea in the shallows. He speaks to them: “ Raise your up, on the surface of the water stand upright; then will your force be double as great. Guard yourselves from the fishers who catch the fish and beat on the Jordan.’ Shilmai and Nidbai* curse them, and they depart and settle themselves down behind me a mile off. The fish curse their casting-net ... ... in their place.” When the Fisher thus spake, warning all [of the fish, when] the fishers his voice heard, they came up and gathered around him. They put themselves forward to ask of him questions, and knew not whence he came. “ Where wast thou, Fisher,” they ask him, “that we heard not thy voice in the marsh? Thy ship is not like our ship, andthy ... isnot * * * ** *, Thy ship

is not tarred over with pitch, and thou art not like the fishers of this world.” The fishers see him, become scarlet for shame and remain standing in their places. They say to him: “ Whence comes it that thou dost fish without finding? Thy ship is not like our ship; it shines by night like the sun. Thy ship is perfected in eether, and wondrous standards are unfurled above it. Our ship sails along in the water, but thy ship between the waters. Our reeds (? rods) grumble at one another and break into pieces. Among them is the fish-trident of wrath, on which ... and 4 Bre N00, Lay ees , O Fisher, is such that thes the fish see it, they take soriieieal off. We have not yet seen any fishers which are like unto thee. The wind wafts thy ship on, the mast ... ... for the fisher and a rudder that gleams in the water-shallows. On thy cast-net is no cord, and they have not laid * round it. There are no in it, which are a cunning device against the fish of the pee Thou keepest thy yarn ... ... and hast no clapper and no hatchet. Thy yarn (=net) fishes not in the water and is not coloured for catching fish.”

When the fishers thus spake, the Fisher made answer unto them: “ Have done, ye fishers and fishers’ sons; off, get you gone from me! Off, go up to your village, the Ruins, Jerusalem. Ask about me of your father, who knows me, ask of your mother, who is my maid-servant. Say to him: There is a Fisher in the boat, in which are four ... . [There is] a rudder, and it stands there, and a mast ye ” and redemptions: They lay waste the land of Jerusalem.” When they heard this from the Fisher who has come hither, and understood, they spake to him: ‘Have compassion, for: bearance and mercy on us and forgive us our sins and transgressions. We are thy slaves, show thyself indulgent towards us. We will look after thy fish that none of them fails. We will be the servants of thy disciples, who name thy Name in Truth. We will continue to look after all who name thy Name.”

Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither. Other pieces set forth such figures as those of ‘ The Detailing probably the remaining two of the four objects referred to. Heavenly Plough’ and of ‘The Sowers’; but perhaps the most interesting is the saga of ‘ The Good Shepherd.’ Here again it is difficult to believe that it was derived from Christian sources; it seems to be as independent as the Fisher of Souls’ figure. The ‘discourse’ runs as follows: In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified. A SHEPHERD am I who loves his sheep; sheep and lambs I watch over. Round my neck [I carry] the sheep; and the sheep from the hamlet stray not. I carry them not to the sea-shore, that they see not the whirl of the water, may not be afraid of the water, and if they are thirsty may not drink of the water.’ I bear them away [from the sea], and water them with the cup of my hand, until they have drunken their fill. I bring them unto the good fold; and they feed by my side. From the mouth of Euphrates, from the mouth of Euphrates the Radiant,’ things of marvellous goodness I brought them. I brought them myrtle, white sesame brought them and brought them bright standards.* I cleansed them and washed them and made them to smell the sweet odour of Life. I put round them a girdle, at sight of which the wolves tremble. No wolf leaps into our fold; and of no fierce lion need they be alarmed. Of the tempest they need not be frightened; and no thief can break in upon us. A thief breaks not into their fold; and of a knife’ they need not be anxious.

When my sheep were quietly laid down and my head lay there on the threshold, a rift was rent in the height and thunder did thunder behind me. The clouds seized hold one of another, Sc. the knife or sword of the Angel of Death. and unchained were the raging tempests. Rain poured down in sheets and hail that smites elephants low, hail that shatters the mountains. And the tempests unchain themselves in an hour.’ Seas burst forth; they flooded the whole of the world. There, under the water, no one escaped, once he sank from the height as into a gulf. The water swept off everyone who had no wings or no feet... He speeds on, and knows not he speeds; he goes, and knows not he goes. Thereupon I sprang up and I entered the fold to bear my sheep forth from their place. I saw my eyes full.° I saw the sea, I saw the fierce-raging tempest, I saw the storm-clouds that send forth no [friendly] greeting the one to the other. Ten-thousand times ten-thousand dragons are in each single cloud. I weep for my sheep, and my sheep weep for themselves. The little lambs are lamenting who cannot come out of the fold’s door.

When then * * * * * *, I entered the house, I mounted up to the highest place [in it], and I call to my sheep. To the sheep in my care dol call. I pipe to them; I get them to hear, so that they come unto me. ‘To them I pipe on my pipe, and beat on my tabour (?), [leading them] to the water.’ I call to them: “My little sheep, little sheep, come! Rise up at my call! Come, rise at my call; then will you ’scape the cloud-dragons. Come, come unto me! I am a shepherd whose boat is soon coming. My boat of glory is coming; and I come with it, and bring my sheep and lambs in aboard it. Every one who gives ear to my call and heed gives unto my voice, and who turns his gaze unto me, of him take I hold with my hands and bring him unto me inboard my boat.’”’ But every lamb, male and female, that suffered himself to be caught, the water-whirl carried away, the greedy water did swallow. Whoever gave no ear to my call, sank under. To the highest part of the vessel I went. The bows stand up with the bow-post.’ I say: How woeful am I for my sheep who

because of the mud have sunk under. The water-whirl sank them away from my reach, the swirling whirl of the water. How grieved am I for the rams whose fleece on their sides has dragged them down into the deep. How grieved am I for the lambkins whose bellies have not [yet] been filled fullof milk. Of a thousand, one I recovered; of a whole generation I found again two. Happy is he who [stood up?] in the water, and in whose ears no water has entered. Happy the great rams who have stamped with their feet. Happy is he who has escaped from the Seven and Twelve, the sheep-stealers. Happy is he who has not couched down, has not lain down, has not loved to sleep deeply. Happy is he who in this defective age of Bishlom’ has stayed whole. Happy are they who free themselves from the snares of Riha (the Mother World-Spirit), from the filth and the shame and the bondage that have no end. My chosen! whoever shall live at the end of this age of Nirig (Mars), for him let his own conscience be a support. He will come and mount up to the Radiant Dwelling, to the region whose sun never sets, and whose light-lamps never darken.

Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither. THe LOVING SHEPHERDS OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD (§ 12). In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified. A TREASURE calls from without hither and speaks: “Come, be for me a loving shepherd and watch me a thousand out of ten thousand.’”— “So then will I be a loving shepherd for thee and watch thee a thousand out of ten thousand. But how full is the world of vileness and sown full of thorns and of thistles ! ”’— “Come, be for me a loving shepherd and watch mea thousand out of ten thousand. I will bring thee then sandals of glory with them canst thou tread down the thorns and the thistles. Earth and heaven decay, but the sandals of glory decay not. Sun and moon decay, but the sandals of glory decay not. The stars and heaven’s zodiacal circle decay, but the sandals of glory decay not. The four winds of the [world-] house decay, but the sandals of glory decay not. Fruits and grapes and trees decay, but the sandals of glory decay not. All that is made and engendered decays, but the sandals of glory decay not. So then be for me a loving shepherd and watch me a thousand out of ten thousand.”’—

‘“T will then be a loving shepherd for thee and watch thee a thousand out of ten thousand. But if a lion comes and carries off one, how am I to retrieve him? If a thief come and steals one away, how am I to retrieve him? If one falls into the fire and is burnt, how am I to retrieve him? If one falls into the water and drowns, how am I to retrieve him? If one stays behind in the pen, how am I to retrieve him ?’’— ““Natheless, come therefore, be for me a loving shepherd and watch me a thousand out of ten thousand. If a lion comes and carries off one, let him go his way and fall a prey to the lion. Let him go his way and fall a prey to the lion, in that he bows himself down to the sun. If a wolf comes and carries off one let him go his way and fall a prey to the wolf, in that he bows himself down to the moon. If a thief comes and steals away one, then let him go his way and fall a prey to the thief. Let him go his way and fall a prey to the thief, in that he bows himself down before Nirig (Mars). If one falls into the fire and is burnt, let him go his way and fall a prey to the fire. Let him go his way and fall a prey to the fire, in that he bows himself down to the fire. If one falls into the mud and stays stuck there, then let him go his way and fall a prey to the mud. Let him go his way and fall a prey to the mud, in that he bows himself down to Messiah. If one falls into the water and drowns, then let him go his way and fall a prey to the sea. Let him go his way and fall a prey to the sea, in that he bows himself down to the seas. If one stays behind in the pen, let him go his way and fall a prey to the pen-demon.’ Let him go

his way and fall aprey to the pen-demon, in that he bows himself down to the idols. ... ...' Come, be for mea loving shepherd and watch me a thousand out of ten thousand.’”— “So will I then be for thee a loving shepherd and watch thee a thousand out of ten thousand. I will watch a thousand of thousands, yea of ten thousand those who adore him.” ® “But some of them wander from me. I went up into high mountains and went down into deep valleys. I went and found him where he can crop nothing. Of each single sheep I took hold with my right hand and on the scale did llay him. A thousand among ten thousand have the [right] weight.”

Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither. The next piece I have selected, treats of the source of all glory and enlightenment, called the Treasury of Life, that in which all spiritual powers and blessings are stored. The origin of the motive is without doubt the Iranian concept of the hvareno, the divine and kingly glory. In the Mandzan tradition it has become highly developed and is frequently personified as a female greatness. Thus in the Oxford MS. F. it is spoken of as “the Mother of all the Kings [of the Light], from whom all worlds have come forth, who separated herself from the fervency of the Hidden Mysteries.” Many roles are assigned to this Light of Life in the complexities of the celestial and cosmic dramas ; and in the human stage it shines forth as the glory with which the perfected are vestured and

® Sc. Life. The concluding paragraph runs on without break in the German, being assigned to the same speaker; but the subject is clearly changed and the whole spirit is different. The Good Shepherd now seeks for the lost sheep and does not leave it to perish. crowned. I have chosen the simplest of the narratives or discourses on the topic. In the still more complex system of the phase of development represented by the Pistis Sophia collection there is no mention of the Treasury of Life, but the Treasury of Light is one of its most important conceptions. The Mandzan tradition conserves the echoes of an earlier phase, for it is indubitably less over-worked. THE TREASURY OF LIFE (§ 57). In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified.

THE Treasury am I, Life’s Treasury (Simath-Haiyé); the Treasury am I, the Mighty One’s Treasury; the Treasury am I, Life’s Treasury. A crown was I for the Mighty from everlasting. The Treasury am I, Life’s Treasury. Ever did I give light to the treasures and to the shekinahs, and was for adornment to Jordan. For adornment became I to Jordan, who was from everlasting, through whom the treasures give light. Great [Life] made me limpid and lucent and made me into a vesture. He made me into his vesture, which day in and day out ai measureless praise of the At‘ther. The Treasury am I, Life’s Treasury. To the King of the Splendour became I a crown. The treasures shine through my glory and praise my form beyond measure.

The Treasury am I, Life’s Treasury—I who as adornment settled down on the King of the Splendour, so that he shone in his mind, that he became bright and shining, and his form glittered more than the [light-] worlds. As I (lit. it) gave light and enlightenment unto the treasures and to the shekinahs [e’en] in — the AXther, the King laid me as vesture round N‘sab the Radiant.’ N‘’sab the Radiant then took me, brought me and laid me as vesture o’er Jordan. As vesture o’er Jordan he laid me, through whom the treasures shine beyond measure. The Treasury am I, Life’s Treasury. The wicked are blind In § 9 (p. 89) N. is called the Watcher who has his station in every region, 2.¢. the Great Watcher.

and see not. I call them unto the Light, yet they busy themselves with the Darkness. “O ye wicked,” I unto them cry, “ ye who sink down in the Darkness, arise and fall not into the deep.” I cry unto them; yet the wicked hear not and sink into the great Sea of the Ending. Therefore was Jordan made a bridge for the treasures ; a bridge for the treasures became he, while he cut off the wicked and hurled them into the great Sea of the Ending. The Treasury am I, Life’s Treasury. A crown I became for Life’s Gnosis. He bestowed on me the rulership over the treasures and the shekinahs which are there [yonder]. The Treasury am I, hife’s Treasury. Of the light-worlds was I the enlightener. Day in and day out they sing praise to Great [Life], and through me they mount upward and behold the Light’s region.

The Treasury am I, Life’s Treasury. A vesture for the lightworlds became I. (The Treasury] am I, Life’s Treasury. A King for the Nazoreans became I. I became a King for the Nazoreans, who through my Name find praise and assurance. Praise and assurance they find through my Name, and on my Name they mount up and behold the Light’s region. For the Men of purity put to the test —[for them] their eye became full of Light. Full of Light was their eye, and in their heart Life’s Gnosis took seat. Whoever of me, Life’s Treasury, makes his investment, loves not gold and silver, loves not gold and possessions, [loves not] food of the body, and envy with him has no place. Envy found with him no place, and he did not forget his night-prayer. He forgot not the discourses and writings, and he forsook not his Lord’s word. He forsook not the prayer of his Father, Life’s Gnosis; wherefor into the great End-Sea he falls not. He forgot not Sunday, nor did he neglect the Day’s evening. He forgot not the way of Great [Life, the way] of wages and alms. He will be rapt away in the nightprayer, he will be rapt away in shining vestures which have come from Great [Life]. Treasures for him fill up what falls short, and what is empty they load for him full. If he bears a pure load, he is counted with the Men of piety put to the test who separate themselves [from the world] in the Name of Yawar.’ Life’s

Treasury rested upon them, to their form it gave light, and for them a way to Great [Life’s] House has been established. I have called with clear voice and directed hereto the disciples : “The vine who bears fruit, doth ascend; who bears none will here be cut off. Whosoever lets himself be enlightened through me and instructed, ascends and beholds the Light’s region ; whoever does not let himself be enlightened through me and instructed, is cut off and falls into the great End-Sea.”’ Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither. That the Mandean religion preserves echoes of a wealth of ancient mythical elements found in Iranian, Babylonian and Semitic traditions is evident on all hands. A process of syncretism had presumably gone on for generations before an impulse from within caused the blending to assume a distinctively Mandan form; and when this emerged, the preservation of the memory of the process had no interest for the faith and fell back into the depths of the subconscious. At anyrate the writers or recorders of the tractates throughout seem honestly persuaded of the complete independence of their tradition from every other form of religion. They are for ever proclaiming the blessings of loyalty to what they claim to be the original, the one and only, revelation of Truth vouchsafed to the world throughout the ages, and declaring that continued spiritual contact with instructors from on high who mediated this divine wisdom, was still possible. They certainly do not give one the idea of being intellectualists consciously at work on a syncretic synthesis of prior material ; on the contrary they seem to live and move in a milieu of prophetical outpourings and to have been extremely sensitive to psychical impressions. Inspirational discourses and intuitive interpretations of prophetical

utterances seem to have been their delight. The following piece may enable the reader to sense somewhat of the peculiar atmosphere of mystical expectancy in which they sought instruction. The topic is one of the chief points of their questioning—the conflict that arose between the Light and the Darkness in the beginnings and how victory is to be achieved. They were not of course absolute Dualists, for always and everywhere victory les with Life Everlasting, who transcends not only the Darkness but also the Light. In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified. To you I say and declare, ye chosen and perfect, ye who dwell in the world: Become not of the Darkness a portion, but lift up your eyes to Light’s region. From the Evil unto the Good separate yourselves out; from the sinful evil of the region of Darkness separate yourselves out. Love and instruct one another, that your sin and [your] guilt be forgiven you. See and hear and get you instructed, that ye may ascend to Light’s region victorious.

The good sit there and are in search; and all who are understanding let themselves be instructed. The good speak, take counsel together and say: ‘ Who will come, who tell me, who will set [it] forth for me, who give me instruction? Who will come, who will tell me whether there was one King or two [in the beginning|?’’ The good speak and let themselves be instructed. “Two Kings were there, two natures were fashioned—a King of this world and a King from outside of the worlds. The King of this age girt on a sword and [put on] a crown of Darkness. A crown of Darkness he put on his head, and took a sword in his right hand. A sword he took in his right hand; he stands there and slaughters his sons, and his sons slaughter each other. The King from outside of the worlds set a crown of Light on his head. A crown of Light he set on his head, and took Truth in his right hand. Truth in his right hand he took, and stands there and

instructs his sons. He stands there and instructs his sons, and his sons instruct one another.” “Whe will come, who tell me what was before this? When the heaven was not yet outspread and stars were not yet in it figured, when the earth was not yet condensed and into the water no condensation had fallen, when sun and moon came not as yet into this world, how was the soul then ?” “When the soul still sat in the Bowl,’ she felt neither hunger nor thirst. When the soul still sat in the Bowl, she had no pains and no faults. When the soul still sat in the Bowl, she felt no cold and no heat. When she still sat in the Bowl, the locks on her forehead’ were incurled, and an sether-crown sat on her head. Her eyes were light-rays (?), and they gazed on the region of the House of Great [Life]. Her mouth was of purel[st] perfection, and sang the praise of the King of Light’s region.

“They brought living water and into the muddy water they poured it. They brought light-giving light and into the gloomful darkness they cast it. They brought the delightsome wind and into the frantic wind cast it. They brought the living fire and into the consuming fire cast it. They brought the soul, the pure mind, and into the vain body cast it. “Out of fire and of water was the one heaven spread out. Out of fire and of water have they made dense the earth on the anvil. Out of fire and of water fruits, grapes and trees did arise. Out of fire and of water was imaged the corporeal Adam. “They fashioned the Envoy and to be head of the generations

Monad.’ It was not only the source of souls, but also the Mind into which they had to be dowsed for spiritual baptism or regeneration. 4T can find no explanation of this occasionally recurring figure; it indubitably goes back to some ancient myth. they sent him. With heavenly voice he called hence into the worlds’ disquiet. At the call of the Envoy Adam, who lay there,’ awoke. Adam, who lay there, awoke and went forth to meet the Envoy: ‘Come in peace, O Envoy, Life’s Messenger, who hast come from the House of my Father. How firmly is planted withal dear, beautiful Life in his region! But how [meanly] for me has a stool been set up and my dark form sits on it lamenting.”

“Thereon the Envoy made answer and spake to the corporeal Adam: ‘Thy throne has been set up in beauty, O Adam; and ’t is thy form sits here lamenting. All’ were mindful of thee for thy good and fashioned and sent me to thee. Iam come and will give thee instruction, O Adam, and free thee from this world. Give ear and hearken and get thee instructed, and mount to Light’s region victorious.” Adam gave ear and had faith.—Hail to him who gives ear after thee® and has faith! Adam received the Truth.—Hail to him who receives the Truth after thee! Adam looked up full of hope and ascended.—Hail to him who ascends after thee! Give ear and hearken and let yourselves be instructed, ye perfect, and ascend to Light’s region victorious. And praiséd be Life.

That the moral instruction given to the Mandzans is excellent may be seen in almost any piece; but there are distinctive collections of ethical exhortation of which the following is an example. From the Light-region have I (Life’s Gnosis) come forth, from thee, thou glorious dwelling. With vestures of glory have I been clad and a crown of victory on my head has been set. I came and found the Nazdéreans, how they stand on the shore of the Jordan. I set up my throne and sat down, as a father who sits ’midst his sons. ! In a number of the Gnostic systems of the Early Christian period the body of the first man is said to lie like a log till the light-spark is breathed into him.

The Good sits there and teaches his sons all truth, in which is no error. My sons! See that you commit no adultery ; see that you no theft commit. They who commit adultery and who steal, mount not up to Life’s house. They mount not up to Life’s house and do not behold Light’s region. My sons! See that you practise no magic and afflict not the soul in the body. The magicians and falsificators are hurled into seething pots and fire is their judge. My sons! See that ye remove not the boundaries, that the boundary-stone you displace not. The eye of those who remové boundaries, looks not on the Light. My sons! See that you do not abandon the slave to the hands of his master and the slave-girl to the hands of her mistress ; abandon not the weak to the strong. [He who acts otherwise] will be fettered in a distant region, in the tax-gatherers’ house; * his eyes behold only the Darkness and his foot finds no firm ground.

My sons! See that you take not [to wife] a slave-girl who has not been made free, and thereby bring your sons into the house of a master. For if the slave one day sins, then on the day when his master passes judgment upon him, will the sins which the slave commits, fall on the head of his father. My sons! See that you are not hinters and that your eyes make no suggestions [sc. to women]. For the hinters and winkgivers will be assigned to the guard-stations. To the guard-stations will they be assigned and be judged with stern justice. My sons! See that you eat not up interest and interest on interest, else in the dark mountain will you receive judgment.

My sons! See that you pay no homage to the idols, the satans and demons, to the worship of idols:and to the lusts of this world; for on the godlings and satans will a stern judgment fall, and they who pray to them will not ascend to Life’s house and not look on Light’s region. Give heed to what I have charged you, and let no evidence be given of crime and of lying; on evidence of crime and of lying you will be haled to account ’fore the judge. You will be haled to account ’fore the judge who judges all worlds. He judges each one according to his works and his merit. My sons! All that is hateful to you, do not to your neighbours; for ‘in the world into which you have come, is a heavy justice and judgment. Heavy justice and judgment is there therein, and every day will minds made secure in it be chosen. For everyone who is laden, mounts upward; but he who is empty is judged here. Woe to the empty, who stands empty there in the house of the collectors of taxes. When he had it in his hand, he gave nothing; there will he search in his pocket and he will find nothing. The wicked and liars will be hurled into the Darkness. They will into the blazing fire cast, into the blazing fire will they cast him into whose ears the call has been made, but he would not give ear. I showed it him unto his eye, but he would not see; I showed it him, but he would not see with his eye.

Life is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither. The Mandzans possess a rich collection of liturgical songs and hymns which Lidzbarski has translated for the first time in his excellent edition of them (Manddische Lnturgien, Berlin, 1920). From these 236 hymns we choose one of the most typical as a& specimen, and as perhaps of more than ordinary interest to the general reader who may have puzzled over the unqualified beatitude ‘‘ Blessed are the poor.” It is taken from the Oxford Collection (Bk. I., No. lvi.) and may be entitled:

In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified. A Poor MAN am I,’ who comes out of the [celestial] Fruits, a Stranger to the world, who comes out of the Distance. ' Or “One of the Poor am I.” Compare the Ebionim or Poor of early Christianity ; the Poor (spiritually) are those who have voluntarily renounced this world’s goods. A Poor man am J, to whom Great Life gave ear, a Stranger to this world, whom the Light-treasures made world-strange. They brought me out of the abode of the good ones ; ah me! in the wicked ones’ dwelling they made me to dwell. Ah me! they made me to dwell in the wicked ones’ dwelling, which is filled full of nothing but evil. It is filled full of nothing but evil, filled full of the fire which consumes. I would not and will not dwell in the dwelling of naughtness. With my power and with my enlightening I dwelt in the dwelling of naughtness. With my enlightening and my praise-giving I kept myself stranger to this world. I stood among them as a child who has not a father, As a child who has not a father, as a fruit who has not a tender. I hear the voice of the Seven, who whisper in secret and say : “Whence is this Stranger man, whose discourse is not like to our discourse ? I listened not to their discourse ; then were they full of wicked anger against me. Life, who gave ear to my call, a Messenger sent forth to meet me. He sent me a gentle Treasure, an armoured, well-armoured Man. With his pure voice he makes proclamation, as the Treasures make in the House of Perfection. He speaks : “ Poor one, from anguish and fear be thou free! Say not: I stand here alone. For thy sake, O Poor, this firmament was outspread, Was this firmament spread out, and stars were pictured upon it. For thy sake, O Poor, this firm land came into existence,

Came into existence this firm land, the condensing took form, fell into the water. For thy sake came the sun, for thy sake the moon was revealéd. For thy sake, O Poor, came the Seven, and the Twelve are hither descended. Thou Poor one! On thy right rests glory, on thy left rest [light-] lamps. Hold steadfast in thy security, until thy measure has been completed. When thy measure has been completed, I will myself come to thee. I will bring thee vestures of glory, so that the worlds will long for them, desireful. I will bring thee a pure, excellent head-dress, abundant in infinite light. I will set thee free from the wicked, from the sinners will I deliver thee. I will make thee dwell in thy shekinah free thee into the region unsullied.”’ I hear the voice of the Seven, who whisper in secret and speak : ““ Blessed is he who is to the Poor one a father, who is unto the Fruit a tender. Hail to him whom Great Life knows, woe to him whom Great Life knows not.” Hail to him whom Great Life knew, who has kept himself stranger to this world, The world of the defect, in which the Planets are seated. They sit on thrones of rebellion and drill their works with the scourge. For gold and for silver are they disquiet, and strife they cast into the world. Disquiet are they and therein cast strife ; therefore will they go hence and seethe in the fire. The wicked shall seethe, and their pomp shall vanish and come to an end. But I with my offspring and kindred shall ascend and see the Light’s region,

The region whose sun never sets, and whose light-lamps never darken— That region, the state [of the Blessed], whereto your souls are called and invited. And so are our good brothers’ souls, and the souls of our faithful sisters. Life is exalted and is victorious, and victorious is the Man who has come hither.

In The Antiquities of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus there are three passages of outstanding importance for Christian readers, seeing that they are the only external witnesses to Christianity from the first century. As such they have been submitted to the closest cross-examination and scrutiny. The general result of the enquiry into the authenticity of their testimony has established for most scholars the judgment, that we have here to deal not with a homogeneous body of evidence, but with three different witnesses, one of which is distinctly good, another as distinctly bad, and a third very probably good. The passage on John the Baptist is well-nigh universally accepted as affording no grounds for reasonable scepticism, and as_ therefore providing a most valuable external proof that John was a historical character. The account of Jesus, on the other hand, has been called into most serious question by the vast majority of liberal scholars, and by very many conservatives, on numerous grounds, and chiefly because the writer unequivocally affirms that Jesus was the Messiah,—a statement which no Jew could have made. The third is a reference to James, the brother of Jesus ‘called’ or ‘said to be Messiah ’—a

hesitation which may fairly be ascribed to Josephus himself. Many then who reject the Jesus-passage as indubitably spurious, accept the James-reference as free from reasonable suspicion, and thus obtain a brief but valuable external first-century evidence for earliest Christianity. | Josephus composed his Antiquities in Greek, and completed them in 93/94 a.D. They are a general survey of the traditions and history of his people up to the special period of which he had already treated in detail in his first and most famous work, The Jewish War. In describing there the events which led up to the outbreak of the revolt, he treats of all the other religious and political movements in Palestine, even the most insignificant, contemporary with the beginnings of Christianity, and yet he says not a single word about the Baptist or Jesus. This is a very striking and puzzling omission. Where precisely we should expect to find such mention, and where far greater opportunities occur for bringing it in than in The Antiquities, we are confronted with ‘the silence ~ of Josephus.’ The War was first of all composed in Aramaic and circulated among the Jews of Palestine and Babylonia, doubtless to convince them of the futility of resisting the might of the Roman arms. Of this original edition, however, no trace has so far been discovered. The work known to us is in Greek. It is not a translation so much as a re-composition very carefully prepared on the models of Greek history ; and in this Josephus sought the help of Greek stylists. It reads indeed like an original composition; whatever the Aramaic contained, the work as it now stands has been clearly adapted to suit the mentality of the wider public of the Greco-Roman world and the literary circles of the day to whom it was presented.

This Greek edition was composed between 75 and 79 A.D. It is of course not impossible to suppose that in the Aramaic there may have been reference to the Johnand Jesusmovements. But why then should Josephus have cut them out, when there is an indubitable passage concerning John and a highly probable reference to Jesus in The Antiquities ? To conjecture a satisfactory answer to this dilemma is exceedingly difficult; it remains an unsolved crux. For had there been any such passages in the Aramaic edition of the War, surely Christian apologists would have seized upon them and insisted that they should be restored to the Greek text ?—unless by chance they contained matter they would not like to see in wider circulation.

That clear light will ever be thrown on this ‘silence of Josephus’ problem is hardly to be expected. Nevertheless the subject may be said to have recently entered on a new phase: certain hitherto unknown material has been brought forward, which has forced the problem once more into the arena of controversy ; and it may very well be that in the future this new material will have always, directly or indirectly, to be taken into consideration whenever the familiar Josephean passages are reviewed or rediscussed. There is extant in a number of MSS. a Slavonic or Old Russian translation of the War. In this version there are no less than eight pieces referring to John the Baptist (8), Jesus (4) and the first Christians (1). These remarkable passages, of which the Greek text shows no trace, have been excerpted and the Slavonic text of them critically established by the collation of four MSS.

In the first place it is agreed on all hands by the German scholars who have investigated them, that these pieces were not originally composed in Slavonic and interpolated into the translation. Not only is the style foreign to correct Slavonic idiom, but the peculiar nature of the contents is so alien to Slavonic mentality, that to suppose so late a writer as a Slavonic translator, who could at the very earliest be assigned only to the 10th century, is out of the question. They are indubitably translations,.and moreover clearly rendered from Greek. This is shown not only by the construction of the sentences in general, but also by the clumsiness and uncertainty of the translator in his rendering of particles and conjunctions; moreover the Greek original for the veil or curtain of the temple (katapetasma) is retained.

These eight pieces were excerpted from the rest of the text and first made accessible for the general world of scholarship, in German translation, by A. Berendts, in 1906.' The consensus of learned opinion in Germany (and elsewhere apparently no notice whatever has been taken of the ‘find’) from the start has been entirely unfavourable to their authenticity. That is to say, no one has so far ventured to claim them for Josephus himself. They were immediately and almost unanimously dismissed as transparent Christian forgeries, and that too of a late date and of no sort of historic value of any kind. Here and there, however, were signs of some hesitation in endorsing so wholesale and precise a verdict; for a few, the matter seemed not so simple as it appeared at first sight. The first caveat was entered and the subject brought into a new perspective by R. Seeberg in a somewhat popular but

highly suggestive treatment, which he boldly entitled ‘A New Source for the Karliest History of Christianity.” Though Seeberg’s reputation as a_ specialist on questions of origins forbade the rejection of his view as that of an irresponsible eccentric, no attention was paid to it, perhaps because he had not attempted to work out his theory in detail. This task, however, was speedily undertaken by Johannes Frey, of the University of Dorpat, who had just published a very valuable and thorough-going study of the History of the Passion. In 1908 Frey produced a substantial volume,’ in which he treated the material to an acute analysis and with minute elaboration, and in other respects showed a remarkable grasp of all the puzzling complexities of a whole series of problems which an intensive scrutiny of the passages brought out.

In the first place Frey called attention to the fact that the general characteristics of these pieces were very different from those of all other ancient Christian forgeries known to us. His main contention throughout this very thorough enquiry is that the author, whoever he may have been precisely, must be held in general to be a Jew and not a Christian. There is no evidence of direct dependence on early canonical Christian literature, no sign that he had any acquaintance with the precision of written tradition. In so far as there is agreement with the Gospels or Acts, it is only in respect to the barest generalities; there is nothing even to show acquaintance with the precise inner oral traditions of the Christians themselves. It is all set forth from an external standpoint. Neverthe-

less the writer is not simply fabricating freely out of his imagination. He has traditional material of some sort to goon. He is trying to set forth what he has heard and gathered, and what at times puzzles him considerably. He reports opinion—what people say; some this, others that. He would also play the part of the impartial historian, considering probabilities and even possibilities. He is not a hostile critic by any means; on the contrary, he is in general sympathetic. Indeed he regards both John and Jesus as outstanding personalities, even astonishingly so, and his sympathies are enlisted for them because he thinks they have both been most unjustly done to death. His attitude is thus in general that of a friendly Jewish outsider—a very difficult part for a convinced Christian to play without betraying himself in some fashion as a believer in the full Christian claims. He, however, nowhere asserts that Jesus was the Messiah. Frey’s main contention, then, following Seeberg, is that the writer worked on Jewish general popular oral sources; in other words, he had at his disposal traditions proximate to the occurrences, and therefore worthy of attention as giving a picture of an early outside view of nascent Christianity.

Seeberg thinks that Christian manipulation must be admitted in three or four places; but Frey tries to show that he is here mistaken. Frey is perhaps not sufficiently cautious in thus leaving no loophole. But even with this qualification, if the main contention of both scholars can stand, the possibility of our being faced with early external traditions of some kind is a matter of quite extraordinary interest, and deserves the careful attention of all students of Christian beginnings. As practically nothing is known of these passages by English readers, it may be of service to present those few of them who see this study, with a translation of the German version of these eight extracts. They may then judge for themselves how the contents strike them. But whatever may be their opinion as to their value or worthlessness, it cannot be denied that every scrap of material, however intractible, that can be held by any trained mind to contain the possibility of having even the remotest bearing on the surroundings of earliest Christianity, possesses a unique interest and fascination of its own; for the first century is otherwise practically silent outside the New Testament documents.

The version that follows is made from the German translation given in Frey’s volume; I have, however, added the sub-titles. It is literal and clumsy, like the German, which faithfully follows the Slavonic. The variant readings in the MSS. are slight, and I have not noted them in detail. Jor the present paper is intended for the general reader solely, and not for the specialist, who must deal at first hand with Frey’s technical exposition, which, as far as I am aware, has not yet been disposed of, or indeed in any way answered.

1. Now at that time a man went about among the Jews in strange garments; for he had put pelts on his body everywhere where it was not covered with his own hair; 2. indeed to look at he was like a wild man. 3. He came to the Jews and summoned them to freedom, saying: “ God hath sent me, that I may show you the way of the Law, wherein ye may free yourselves from many holders of power. 4, And there will be no mortal ruling over you, only the Highest who hath sent me.” 5. And when the people had heard this, they were joyful. And there went after him all Judea, that lies in the region round Jerusalem. )