LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER VIII.

      1 Joseph and Mary pass through a country infested by robbers.

       3 Titus a humane thief, offers Dumachus, his comrade,

       forty groats to let Joseph and Mary pass unmolested.

       6 Jesus prophecies that the thieves Dumachus and Titus shall be

       crucified with him and that Titus shall go before him into paradise.

       10 Christ causes a well to spring from a sycamore tree, and Mary

       washes his coat in it.

       11 A balsam grows there from his sweat. They go to Memphis, where

       Christ works more miracles. Return to Judea.

       15 Being warned, depart for Nazareth.

      IN their journey from hence they

       came into a desert country and

       were told it was infested with

       robbers; so Joseph and St. Mary

       prepared to pass through it in the

       night.

      2 And as they were going along,

       behold they saw two robbers asleep

       in the road, and with them a great

       number of robbers, who were their

       confederates, also asleep.

      3 The names of these two were

       Titus and Dumachus; and Titus

       said to Dumachus, I beseech thee

       let these persons go along quietly,

       that our company may not perceive

       anything of them.

      4 But Damachus refusing, Titus

       again said, I will give thee forty

       groats, and as a pledge take my

       girdle, which he gave him before

       he had done speaking, that he

       might not open his mouth or make

       a noise.

      5 When the Lady St. Mary saw

       the kindness which this robber did

       shew them, she said to him, The

       Lord God will receive thee to his

       right hand and grant thee pardon

       of thy sins.

      6 Then the Lord Jesus answered,

       and said to his mother, When

       thirty years are expired, O mother,

       the Jews will crucify me at

       Jerusalem;

      7 And these two thieves shall

       be with me at the same time upon

       the cross, Titus on my right hand,

       and Dumachus on my left, and

       from that time Titus shall go before

       me into paradise;

      8 And when she had said, God

       forbid this should be thy lot, O

       my son, they went on to a city in

       which were several idols; which,

       as soon as they came near to it,

       was turned into hills of sand.

      9 Hence they went to that

       sycamore tree, which is now called

       Matarea.

      10 And in Materea the Lord

       Jesus caused a well to spring

       forth, in which St. Mary washed

       his coat;

      11 And a balsam is produced,

       or grows, in that country, from

       the sweat which ran down there

       from the Lord Jesus.

      12 Thence they proceeded to

       Memphis, and saw Pharoah, and

       abode three years in Egypt.

      13 And the Lord Jesus did very

       many miracles, in Egypt, which

       are neither to be found in

       Gospel of the Infancy nor in the

       Gospel of Perfection.

      14 At the end of three years

       he returned out of Egypt, and

       when he came near to Judea,

       Joseph was afraid to enter;

      15 For hearing that Herod was

       dead, and that Archelaus his son

       reigned in his stead, he was afraid.

      16 And when he went to Judea,

       an, angel of God appeared to

       him, and said, O Joseph go

       into the city of Nazareth, and

       abide there.

      17 It is strange indeed, that he,

       who is the Lord of all countries,

       should be thus carried backward and

       forward, through so many countries.