Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/225

Rh made known to him that the hour of death now drew nigh. Therefore fear and great trouble of mind came over him. But he arose and went to Jerusalem, and having entered the temple of the Lord and poured out his prayers there before the sanctuary, he said:—

, who art the author of all comfort, the God of all mercy, and Lord of the whole human race, the God (I say) of my soul, spirit, and body: I suppliantly venerate thee, O my Lord and God, if now my days are finished, and the time is at hand in which I must go out of this world, send me, I pray, the great Michael, prince of thy holy angels, and let him abide with me, that my wretched soul may depart from this miserable body without distress, without terror and impatience. For immense fear and vehement sorrow seizeth all bodies on the day of their death, whether male or female, whether cattle or wild beast, whatever either creepeth upon the ground or flieth in the air; in sum, all creatures which are under heaven, and in which vital spirit is, are stricken with horror, with great fear, and immense faintness, when their souls depart from their bodies. Now, therefore, O my Lord and God, let thy holy angel, with his aid, attend upon my soul