Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 2.djvu/417

 hath of  His  mercy  granted  much  to  you,

in that  He  hath  thus  willed  to  reveal  to  you  His  secrets.

Now are  your  provinces  and  your  towns

filled with  holy  churches  and  with  the  Saviour's  faith;

be ye  now  yourselves  ready  to  turn  to  Christ

that ye  may  be  baptized  from  former  sins,

and may  be  sanctified  in  the  saving  font.'

Then said  Gad  straightway  to  God's  apostle:

I beheld  the  buildings  which  thou  buildedst  for  my  brother,

and angels  interceded  for  me  to  the  Almighty  Saviour

that I  might  buy  them.'     Then  said  Thomas  blithely:

' It  standeth  with  thy  brother  whether  thou  mayest  buy  them.'

Then the  king  Gondophorus  said  to  his  brother:

' Since  it  is  made  for  me,  I  think  that  it  is  mine;

let the  apostle  make  for  thee  another  work  like  it;

if, however,  he  cannot  make  another,

it may  serve  us  both  to  possess  this  one.'

Then said  the  holy  apostle:  '  The  Saviour  hath  builded

unnumbered dwellings  and  spacious  palaces

from the  beginning  of  the  world  magnificently  in  heaven;

and they  can  be  purchased  with  true  faith.

If then  ye  will  now  rather  be  busy  about  those  buildings,

and wish  to  speak  in  earnest  concerning  the  heavenly  riches,

then may  your  possessions  run  before  you;

and they  cannot  follow  you  at  your  death.

Let now  your  goods  profit  the  widows,

the poor,  and  the  sick;    and  know,  of  a  truth,

that they  shall  be  kept  for  you,  a  hundred-fold,

where no  ending  shall  come  to  you  for  ever.'

Then sprang  his  fame  widely  throughout  the  land,

that to  India  had  come  Christ's  apostle,

one who  could  heal  by  the  touch  of  his  hands

the deaf  and  the  blind,  and  raise  the  dead.