The Legend Of The Holy Thorn Of Glastonbury.

a good man and a just , " who begged from Pilate the dead body of our Saviour , and buried it in his own garden . For this action , says the legend , he was closely imprisoned by the Jews on the night of our SaAdour ' s burial ; but he Avas miraculously delivered by an angel on the

night of our Saviour ' s resurrection . The Jews Avere very much enraged at their victim ' s escape ; indeed , so great was their wrath , that they not only expelled him Avith St . Lazarus , St . Mary Magdalen , St . Marthaand St . Philipfrom Jerusalem

, , , but put them out to sea in an open vessel , without either oars or sail . After tossing about many days , they Avere driven in God ' s providence , to Marseilles , a French town on the Mediterranean Sea , and from Marseilles , St . Joseph came to Britain ,

where he died at a good old age , after having preached the Gospel of Christ Avith povrer and earnestness for many years . St . Philip did not accompany his felloAVexile to Britain ; he believed his mission to be in Gaul ; indeed , St . Joseph , himself , would , in all probability , never have quitted Gaul had it not been for a vision sent to St . Philip . In this vision , Britain

was represented to him as being in a most helpless and heathen condition ; and he heard mournful voices which imploringly cried to him— " Come over and help us ! " In consequence of this indication , St . Joseph resolved to leave Gaul , Avhich he accordingly didand came over to Britain

, in the year A . D . 63 , bringing Avith him twelve companions , one being his . own son Joseph . An old book , "The Sanctus Graal , " rather increases the number of the missionary ' s train , and says that six hundred people came with himamong

, Avhom were his wife and son , his nephew Helaius , ancestor of our renowned King Arthur , and also another relation named Peter , Avhose descendant Loth is said to have married King Arthur ' s sister . The "Sanctus Graal" also states that St .

Joseph was the King of Orcania , and that many of his retinue were persons of the hi ghest , even of royal rank . This assertion is , however , of very doubtful authority . Only the Protestant authors say he was sent to Britain by St . Philip ; Romish historians will not allow this , but say he was commissioned by St . Peter , and not b y St . Philip , whom they affirm to have

suffered martyrdom at Hieropolis , in Asia , nine years before St . Joseph arrived in Britain . St . Joseph , according to Mr . Broughton , in his " Antiquities of Glastonbury , " landed in North Wales , then called Venedocia ; here he and his companions began

to preach the Gospel , tut were most cruell y treated by the heathen King of that province . They Avere denied all necessaries for relief and sustenance , their doctrines Avere rejected with contempt , and they , themselveswere thrown into prison

, When at lengh they Avere freed , they resolved to leave such an obstinate and obdurate people to themselves , and so they came into that part of Britain now called England , the Loegria . St . Joseph immediately proceeded to the

Court of King Arviragus , by whom he . was well received . The poor persecuted , . Missionary gave him an account of his journey and its object , Avhich Avas to " bring the happy news of the Saviour ' s resurrection , and to offer the only assured means of salvation to all who Avould embrace it . " This message , gravely and modestly delivered by one filled by the Holy Spirit ,

and a most venerable appearance- ^ by one that renounced all wordly designs of po wer and riches—by the professor of a reli gion sufficiently recommended if it deserved the hatred of that most infamous prince Nero , —*¦ this message so wrought upon Arviragus ,

that he not only gave St . Joseph and his companions leave to preach and convert his subjects , but also extented his liberality so far as to afford them a special place of retreat convenient for their quiet and holy devotionand sufficient for their support

, , so that lvithout distraction or solicitude , they might attend to the Avorship of the true God , and the instruction of those who were ivilling to receive it . The retreat Arviragus assigned them was an island in one of the Somersetshire

marches , called by the Britons Ynis-witryn from its colour , or , perhaps , from its position . It was a rude and uncultivated piece of land , and full of woods , bushes , and fens . In course of time , when it was cleared from its briarsand had been well

, drained and cultivated , the inhabitants called it Avallonia from the abundance of apples and fruit growing there ; but in after ages , when the Saxons had taken 2 L 2