The Ghost of Chatham; A Vision / Dedicated to the House of Peers

JUST PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM HONE, (2)

45, Ludgate-Hill.

Price Six Shillings in Boards.

THE APOCRYPHAL NEW TESTAMENT, Being all the Gospels, Epistles, and other pieces now extant, attributed in the first four centuries to JESUS CHRIST, his Apostles, and their companions, and not included in the New Testament by its compilers. Translated from the original, and now first collected into One Volume, with a Preface and Tables.

^*_*^* The Books that exist, of those not included in the Canon, are carefully brought together into the present volume. They naturally assume the title of the Apocryphal New Testament; and he who possesses this and the New Testament, has, in the two volumes, a collection of all the Historical Records relative to Christ and his Apostles, now in existence, and considered sacred by Christians during the first four centuries after his birth.

Contents.

Preface.
Gospel of the birth of Mary.
The Protevangelion, or birth of Christ and the Virgin, by James the lesser.
The first Gospel of the Infancy of Christ.
Thomas’s Gospel of the Infancy.
Epistles of Christ and Abgarus.
Gospel of Nicodemus.
Apostles’ Creed.
Paul’s Epistle to the Laodiceans.
Epistles of Paul and Seneca.
Acts of Paul and Thecla.
Clement’s Two Epistles to the Corinthians.
Epistle of Barnabas.
The Seven Epistles of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, SmyrnÆans, and Polycarp.
Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians.
The Shepherd of Hermas, in three books.
Table I. List of all the lost Apocryphal books.
Table II. List of early Catalogues of the Books of the New Testament.

^*_*^* By the publication of this Volume, the Editor conceives he has rendered an acceptable service to the Theological Student and the Ecclesiastical Antiquary:—he has endeavoured to render it more gratifying to the reader, and more convenient for reference, by arranging the Books into Chapters, and dividing the Chapters into verses.

The Lover of Old Literature will here find the obscure but unquestionable origin of several remarkable relations, in the Golden Legend, the Lives of the Saints, and similar productions, concerning the Parentage and Birth of the Virgin, her Marriage with Joseph on the budding of his rod, the Nativity of Jesus, the Miracles of his Infancy, his laboring with Joseph at the Carpentry trade, the actions of his Followers, his Descent into Hell, &c.

Several of the Papal Pageants for the Populace and the Monkish Mysteries performed as Dramas at Chester, Coventry, Newcastle, and in other parts of England, are almost verbatim representations of the stories. Many valuable Pictures by the best masters—Prints by the early Engravers, and particularly of the Italian and German Schools—Woodcuts in early black letter and block books—and Illuminations of missals and monastic MSS.—receive immediate elucidation on reference to the Apocryphal New Testament, and are without explanation from any other source.

Transcriber's Note

This text contains some variant and archaic spelling; this has been left as printed throughout.

A single typographic error, on page iii, was corrected—recals amended to recalls.

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