vi

Preface1

At length, meetings began to be held in the town, in various places, and this subject to be discussed

in conversation as a matter of wonder; who this might be who had appeared, and what message he

had brought from God to men? Until, about the same year, a certain man, standing in a most

crowded place in the town, made proclamation to the people, saying:

 Hear me, citizens of Rome! The Son of God is now in the regions of Judah, promising eternal life

to everyone who will hear him, but upon condition that he shall regulate his actions according to the

will of him by whom he has been sent, even of God the Father. Wherefore turn from evil things to

good, from things temporal to things eternal. Acknowledge that there is one God, ruler of heaven

and earth, in whose righteous sight, you unrighteous inhabit his world. If you be converted and act

according to his will, then coming to the world to come, and being made immortal, you shall enjoy

his unspeakable blessings as rewards.

Now the man who spoke these things, named Joseph Barnabi son of prophet יא ִבָנ-ן ֶב, was from the

eastern regions, a hebrew by nation; he said that himself was one of his talmidim students, that he was

sent for this end that he should declare these things to those who would hear them. When I heard

these things, I began to follow him with the rest of the multitude, to hear what he had to say. Truly I

perceived that there was nothing of dialectic artifice in the man; he expounded with simplicity and

without any craft of speech such things as he had heard from the Son of God, or seen. He did not

confirm his assertions by the force of arguments, but produced many witnesses from the people who

stood round about him, of the sayings and marvels that he related. Inasmuch as the people began to

assent willingly to the things which were sincerely spoken and to embrace his simple discourse.

Nevertheless, those who thought themselves learned or philosophic began to laugh at the man and to

flout him, throwing out for him the grappling-hooks of syllogisms, like strong arms. Unimpressed

regarding their subtleties as mere ravings, he did not even judge worthy of an answer, and boldly

pursued the subject set before him. As he was speaking, some one proposed this question: Why a

gnat, a small creature, has six feet and has got wings in addition, whereas an elephant, an immense

animal, has no wings and only four feet? He paid no attention to the question, and when he was

interrupted by unseasonable challenge, he only answered:

 We have it in charge to declare to you the words and the wondrous works of him who has sent us,

and to confirm the Truth of what we speak, not by artfully devised arguments, but by witnesses

produced from amongst yourselves. I recognise many standing in the midst of you whom I remem-

ber to have heard along with us the things which we have heard, and to have seen what we have seen.

Be it in your option to receive or to spurn the tidings which we bring to you. We can not keep back

what we know to be for your advantage, because, if we be silent, woe is to us; but to you, if you

receive not what we speak, destruction. I could indeed answer your foolish challenges if you asked

for the sake of learning the truth, as to the difference of a gnat and an elephant; but now it was

absurd to speak of these creatures, when the very Creator and Framer of all things is unknown to

you.

 Bar nabi

1 Arrival of Barnabas at Rome – Ante-Nicene Fathers: translation of the Writings of the fathers down to A.D. 325, vol. III (p.79), Roberts Donaldson 1903| Barnabas came into

Italy and preached the gospel in Liguria; where he founded the famous church of Milan. Genuine Epistles of the Apostolical Fathers (p.273), Wake 1840