after a long interval, heard a voice prophecying the marvellous nativity of St. Anne*.

And Emerentiana had a most charming daughter, who was called Anne, that is, gracious. This is that Anne whom God represented by the branch shooting from the tree, which produced a flower containing the uncorrupted fruit of life.

Anne dwelt in the city of Bethlehem with her parents, blamelessly, in the fear of God, and shining in all the virtues with admirable glory. She was a virgin of a most beautiful person-undefiled mind and humble heart; most benevolent to her neighbours; of a most devoted soul towards God. She was given in marriage to a most holy man, of the city of Nazareth in Galilee, named Joachim, and lived with him in the fear of God many years, but remained childless; and they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifications of the Lord blamelessly.

The gospel attributed to St. James, furnishes the his tory of the birth and marriage of the Virgin Mary, and of the nativity of Jesust. Joachim, Mary's father, is described as a very rich man, who presented double offerings to the temple. On the great day of the Lord, or last day of the feast of Tabernacles, he went up to Jerusalem to make his offering, which was rejected by

The conti

*The Histoire de Madame Saincte Anne terminates here. nuation is from the History of the Lives of Anne and the Virgin Mary, which begins Incipit prologus in primum Librum de origine Sancte Anne. + Protevangelium, sive de natilibus Jesus Christi et ipsum matris Virginis Mariæ. Sermo historicus, Divi Jacobi minoris consobrino et fratris Domini Jesu, Apostoli primarii et episcopi Christianorum primi Hierosolymis Guilielmo Postello Interprete. Postell brought a Greek MS. of this work from the East, asserting that it was read in the Greek Church as canonical; and he considered it the beginning of St. Mark's Gospel. His Latin translation was printed at Basle, in 1552; and in Heroldi's Orthodoxographia, 1555. The Greek text was added in Neander's edition, 1564; in Gryneus's Orthodoxographia, 1569; and in Fabricius's Codex Apocry

Reuben the high priest, because he was childless. Afflicted by this repulse, he went to the public assembly, and seeing that all the just had had descendants, he was overwhelmed with sorrow, and determining not to see his wife, pitched his tent in the wilderness, and fasted forty days and nights, saying, I will not go up to eat or to drink until the Lord my God regards me, but my prayers shall be my food.

Anne remained at home lamenting Zachariah's absence, and her sterility. On the great day of the feast of Tabernacles, her servant Judith persuaded her to exchange her mourning for her marriage dress, and to ornament her head with a diadem, About the ninth hour she was in the garden praying and lamenting, and behold the Angel of the Lord descended, saying to her, Anne, God has heard thy prayer; thou shalt have a child, who shall be celebrated in all the world. And Anne said, as the Lord my God liveth, whether it is a son or a daughter, it shall be offered as a gift to the Lord our God, and minister to him in sacred things all the days of its life. And behold two Angels came, saying to her, Joachim thy husband comes with his flocks. And the Angel of the Lord descended to him, saying, Joachim, Joachim, God has heard thy prayers, go down from hence. Behold Anne thy wife shall conceive. Then Joachim went down and called his shepherds, saying, Bring me hither ten lambs pure and without spot, and they shall be for the Lord my God; and bring me twelve clean calves,

phus Novi Testamenti, 1719. Estienne in his Traite preparatif à l'apologie pour Heredote, 406, &c. supposed it was forged by Postell, but this is impossible, as it is cited by early ecclesiastical writers, and MS. copies are found in several Continental Libraries.

Dupin states, that although this gospel is unworthy of belief, and full of absurdities, it does not contain gross errors like the gospels forged by heretics.-Nouvelle Bibliotheque des auteurs ecclesiastiques, Tom. 1.Article des Evangiles supposez.

and they shall be for the priests and elders; and bring me one hundred goats, and these one hundred goats shall be for all the people. And, behold, Joachim arrived with his flocks and his shepherds, and Anne stood in the gate, and saw Joachim coming with his flocks and his shepherds, and she ran and fell on his neck, saying, Now I know that the Lord God will bless me abundantlyBehold, I who was a widow am a widow no more; and who was barren shall have a child. And Anne had a daughter, and called her name Mary. And when she had completed her first year, Joachim made a great feast, and invited the chief priests, and scribes, and all the senate, and all the people of Israel, and he presented his gift to the chief priests, who blessed her, saying, May the God of our fathers bless this damsel, and let her name be celebrated in all generations; and all the people said, May it be so. Amen. Amen. And he presented her to the priests, and they blessed her, saying, May the Most High God regard this damsel, and bless her with an unintermitted blessing. And her mother took her and suckled her. And Anne made this song to the Lord God, saying, I will sing praises to the Lord my God, because he has visited me, and taken away from me the reproach of my enemies; and the Lord God has given me the multiplied fruits of his mercy in his presence. Let it, therefore, be announced to Reuben's son, that Anne gives suck. Hear, hear, O twelve tribes of Israel, Anne gives suck. And she laid her down in the place where she had made her sanctuary, and went out and waited on the guests. And when the feast was ended, they departed rejoicing and glorifying the God of Israel. When Mary was three years old, she was presented to the high priest, and brought up in the temple like a dove, and received food from the hands of Angels. Now, when Mary had been twelve years in the temple of the Lord,

a council of the priests was held, saying, Behold Mary has been twelve years in the temple of the Lord, what shall we do with her, lest, peradventure, she defile the sanctuary of the Lord our God? Then the priests said to Zachariah the high priest, Do thou stand at the altar of the Lord and pray for her; and whatever God manifests as his will, that will we do: And the high priest took the ephod, and entered into the holiest of holies, and prayed for her; and behold the Angel of the Lord descended to him, saying, Zachariah, Zachariah, go out and convoke the widowers of the people, and give each of them a rod, and she shall be the wife for preservation of him, to whom God displays a sign. And criers went out into all the regions of Judea, and sounded the trumpet of the Lord, and all ran to it. Joseph also threw down his axe, and went out to meet them; and the assembly went to the high priest to receive their rods: he also entered the temple to receive a rod from him, and prayed; and when he had finished his prayer, he received a rod and went out. Then each man returned his rod, but no sign appeared. At last Joseph took his rod, and behold a dove came out of the rod, and flew to Joseph's head. Then the high priest said to Joseph, Thou art elected by the divine lot to receive the virgin of the Lord into thy protection. And Joseph opposed it, saying, I have children*, and am an old man, while

*Joseph's Children have excited much controversy among Theologians. Fabricius cites from Epiphanius Hæres, LI. 10. that he was a widower, and had six children by his first wife. Hippolytus of Thebes, and other writers, mention his having four sons and two daughters; who were James, Simon, Jude, and Joses; and Esther and Thamar, who by transposition was called Martha.-His wife's name was Escha, or Salome, daughter of Anchiah, the brother of Zachariah, John the Baptist's father. The fragment of Sophronius, published by Lambecius, Bibl. Vindob. p. 54, adds a third daughter-the mother of Salome, who was married to Zebedee, the father of James and the Evangelist John. Codex Apoc. Novi Testam. Tom. 1, p. 31, 32. Gerson makes Anne the mother of three Maries by Joa

The

she is quite a maiden, and, therefore, fear making myself a laughing-stock to the children of Israel. high priest then said to Joseph, Fear the Lord thy God, and remember what God did to Dathan, Abiram, and Korah-how the earth opened and devoured them for their opposition to his will. Fear God, therefore, Joseph, lest this happen to thy house. And Joseph was alarmed, and accepted her, and said to her, Mary, behold I receive thee from the temple of the Lord, and leave thee in thy house, and go to exercise my calling, and return to thee; and the Lord preserve thee at all times.*

The spurious gospel then relates the annunciation of the birth of Jesus in nearly the same language as the Evangelist.

chim, Cleophas and Salome, marries them to Joseph, Alpheus, and Zebedee, and mentions Jesus as the son of Joseph's wife; James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude, as the children of Alpheus, and James and John as Zebedee's sons. This genealogy agrees with a MS. account in the British Museum, except making Joseph Barsabas the son of Cleophas, while that refers him to Zebedee. Gersoni Sermone de nativitate gloriosæ Virginis Mariæ. Opera pars tertia 131, Paris, 1616.-Geneal. Christi, King's Library, 1 B. x. Anroux published a tract against the repeated marriages of SS. Anne and Joseph, entitled Sacree apologie pour le bien heureuse St. Anne, et le bien heureuse St. Joseph, mere et espoux de la sainte vierge contre les trigamie et bigamie qui leurs sont imposees. Paris, 1662, 12mo. The Lives of the Saints compiled by the Bollandists in fifty folio volumes, contain a dissertation, impugning Anne's third marriage, and relations of many miracles, said to have been performed by their relics and through their intercession Acta Sanctorum Vita Annæ, Mensis Julius, Tom. 6. Vita Josephi. Mensis Martis, Tom. 3.

* Louis de Dieu's Latin translation of Xavier's Persian History of Christ, describes Mary's person in these terms. "Mary was of a moderate height, and rather florid complexion. Her eyes were large, verging towards blue-her hair auburn-her hands and fingers long and beautiful-her figure symmetrical in every part—her language was peculiarly pleasing-her aspect modest and benign-her clothing poor but neat.-So much glory and majesty appeared in her person, that when the wicked viewed her awful countenance, they reflected, and withdrew, and were made different persons. All loved, and praised, and thought much of her, for the excellence and sweetness of her manner, and her humility. Lastly, her conversation in public and private was such, as for goodness and dignity, became the Messiah's mother."