Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/237

Rh attend to the oblation on the day of thy commemoration, I will bless him, and give him a recompense in the church of virgins: I will return him (I say) thirty, sixty, and one hundred for one. And whoever writeth the history of thy life, thy labour, and thy departure from this world, and this discourse delivered by my mouth, I will commit him to thy guardianship while he shall remain in this life. And when his soul departeth from his body, and when he must leave this world, I will burn the book of his sins, nor will I torment him with any punishment in the day of judgment; but he shall cross the fiery sea, and shall traverse it without difficulty and pain. This is incumbent upon every needy man who cannot do any of the things which I have mentioned,—that if a son is born to him, he shall call his name Joseph. So neither poverty nor sudden death shall have place in that house for ever.

came the chief men of the city to the place where the body of the blessed old man Joseph was laid; and they brought with them mourning garments, and wished to wrap it in them, according to the manner in which the Jews are wont to arrange dead bodies. But they perceived that he held his shroud as if it were fastened; for so did it adhere to