GOSPELS, APOCRYPHAL

part. The Gospel comes down to us only In quotations in Epiphanius (HiEr. xxx. 13-16, 22). To judge from these quotations, it was a re-writing of the canonical Gospels in the interest of some sect of Christians opposed to sacrifice. Jesus is represented as saying, ' I come to put an end to sacrifices, and unless ye cease from sacri-ficing, anger will not cease from you.' The same motive appears in its re-writing of Lk 22", where the saying of Jesus is turned into a question requiring a negative answer. If these fragments given by Epiphanius are from a Gospel also mentioned by Origen, it is probable that it dates from the early part of the 3rd century.

11 . The Passing of Mary. — This Gospel has come to us In Greek, Latin, Syriac, Sahidic, and Ethiopio versions. It contains a highly imaginative account of the death of Mary, to whose deathbed the Holy Spirit miracu-lously brings various Apostles from different parts of the world, as well as some of them from their tombs. The account abounds in miracles of the most irrational sort, and it finally culminates in the removal of Mary's ' spotless and precious body ' to Paradise.

The work is evidently based on various apocryphal writings. Including the Protevangellum, and could not well have come into existence before the rise of the worship of the Virgin in the latter part of the 4th century. It has had a large infiuence on Roman Catholic thought and art.

12 . In addition to these Gospels there is a considerable number known to us practically only by name: —

(a) TheGospel according to Matthias (or pseudo-Matthew). — Mentioned by Origen as a heretical writing, and possibly quoted by Clement of Alexandria, who speaks of the ' tradi-tions of Matthias.' If these are the same as the 'Gospel according to Matthias,' we could conclude that it was known in the latter part of the 2nd cent., and was, on the whole, of a Gnostic cast.

(ft) The Gospel according to BasUides. — Basilides wag a Gnostic who lived about the middle of the 2nd cent., and is said by Crimen to have had the audacity to writea Gospel. 'The Gospel is mentioned by Ambrose and Jerome, probably on the authority of Origen. Little is known of the writing, and it is possible that Origen mistook the commentary of Basilides on 'the Gospel' for a Gospel. It is, however, not in the least impiobabie tha,t Basilides, as the founder of a school, re-worked the canonical Gospels, something after the fashion of Tatian.into a continuous narrative containing say-ings of the canonical Gospels favourable to Gnostic tenets.

(c) The Gospel of Andrew. — Pos8ibl;y referred to by Augustine, and probably of Gnostic origin.

(a) The Gospel of ^peUes.-^Probably a re-writing of some canonical Gospel. According to Epiphanius, tne work contained the saying of Jesus, 'Be approved money-changers.'

(e) The Gospel of Bamdbae, — Mentioned in' the Gelasian Decree. A mediseval (or Renaissance) work of same title has lately been published (see Exp. T. xix. [1908], p. 263 £f.).

if) The Gospel of Bartholomew. — Mentioned in the Gelasian Decree and in Jerome, but otherwise unknown.

(o) The Gospel of Cerinthus. — Mentioned by Epiphanius.

(A) The Gospel of Eve. — Also mentioned by Epiphanius asin use among the Borborites, an Ophite sect of the Gnostics .

(i) The Gospel of Judaa Iscariot, used by a sect of the Gnostics — the Cainites.

0) The Gospel of Tfiaddceus. — ^Mentioned in the Gelasian Decree, but otherwise unknown.

(k) The Gospel of Valentinus, — Used among the followers of that arch-heretic, and mentioned by Tertullian.

a The Fayyum, Gospel Franment. — It contains the words rist to Peter at the Last Supper, but in a different form from that of the canonical Gospels.

(m) The Logia, found by Grenfell and Hunt at Oxyrhyn-chus, contains a few ssAnn^, some like and some unlike the canonical Gospels. Possibly derived from the Gospel of the Egyptians.

(n) The Descent of Mary. — Quoted by EpiphaniiM, and of the nature of a Gnostic anti-Jewish romance.

(o) The Gospel of Zaeharias. — Subsequently incorporated into the Protevangellum.

Other Gospels were doubtless in existence between the 2nd and 6th centuries, as it seems to have been customary tor all the heretical sects, particularly Gnostics, to write Gospels as a support for their peculiar views. The oldest and most interesting of these was —

GOVERNMENT

(p) The so-called Gospel of Marcion, which, although lost, we know as a probable re-working of Luke by the omission of the Infancy section and other material that in any wayfavoured the Jewish-Christian conceptions which Marcion opposed. This Gospel can be largely reconstructed from quotations given by Tertullian and others. The importance of the Gospel of Marcion as thus reconstructed is considerable for the criticism of our "Third Gospel.

Shaileb Mathews.

GOTHOLIAS (1 Es 8").— Father of Jesaias, who returned with Ezra; called in Ezr 8' Atbaliah, which was thus both a male and a female name (2 K 11').

GOTHONIEL.— The father of Chabris, one of the rulers of Bethulia (Jth 6").

GOURD (klkavBn, Jon 4«).— The similarity of the Heb. to the Egyp. kiki, the castor-oil plant, suggests this as Jonah's gourd. This plant, Ridnua communis, often attains in the East the dimensions of a considerable tree. The bottle-gourd, Cueurbita lagenaria, which is often trained over hastily constructed booths, seems to satisfy the conditions of the narrative much better.

Wild gourds (.pakka' Bth, 2 K 4'9) were either the common squirting-cucumber (.Ecballium elaterium) , one of the most drastic of known cathartics, or, more probably, the colocynth (.Citrullus colocynthis), a trailing vine-like plant with rounded gourds, intensely bitter to the taste and an irritant poison. E. W. G. Mastehman.

GOVERNMENT.— The purpose of this article wiU be to sketch in outline the forms of government among the Hebrews at successive periods of their history. The indications are in many cases vague, and it is impossible to reconstruct the complete system; at no period was there a definitely conceived, still less a written, constitution in the modern sense. For fuller details reference should be made throughout to the separate articles on the officials, etc., mentioned.

We may at once set aside Legislation, one of the most important departments of government as now understood. In ancient communities, law rested on Divine cqmmand and Immemorial custom, and could as a rule be altered only by 'fictions.' 'The idea of avowedly new legislation to meet fresh circumstances was foreign to early modes of thought. At no period do we find a legislative body in the Bible. Grote's dictum that 'The human king on earth is not a law-maker, but a judge,' applies to all the Biblical forms of government. The main functions of government were judicial, military, and at later periods financial, and to a limited extent administrative,

1. During the nomadic or patriarchal age the unit is the family or clan, and, for certain purposes, the tribe. The head of the house, owing to his position and experi-ence, was the supreme ruler and judge, in fact the only permanent oflicial. He had undisputed authority within his family group (Gn 22. 38", Dt 21", Jg 11"). Heads of families make agreements with one another and settle quarrels among their dependents (Gn 21^ 31«); the only sanction to which they can appeal is the Divine justice which 'watches' between them (31"' " 49'). Their hold over the individual lay in the fact that to disobey was to become an outlaw; and to be an outcast from the tribe was to be without protector or avenger. The heads of families combined form. In a somewhat more advanced stage, the 'elders' (Ex 3i« 182', Nu 22'); and sometimes, particularly in time of war, there is a single chief for the whole tribe. Moses is an extreme instance of this, and we can see that his position was felt to be unusual (Ex 2" 4', Nu 16). It was undefined, and rested on his personal influence, backed by the Divine sanction, which, as his followers realized, had marked him out. This enables him to nominate Joshua as his successor.

2. The period of the 'Judges' marks a higher stage; at the same time, as a period of transition it appeared rightly to later generations as a time of lawlessness. The name 'Judges,' though including the notion of

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