Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/291

Rh the foreskin (but others say she took the umbilical cord) and laid it up in a vase of old oil of spikenard. Now she had a son who was a perfumer, to whom she committed it, saying, Take care not to sell this vase of ointment of spikenard, even if 300 pence (dinars) should be offered thee for it. And this is the vase which Mary, the sinner, bought, and poured upon the head and feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then wiped them with the hair of her head. Ten days after they took him to Jerusalem, and on the fortieth day from his birth, they brought him to the temple, and set him before the Lord and offered sacrifices for him, as is commanded in the law of Moses: Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to God.

the old man Simeon saw him shining as a pillar of light, when lady Mary his virgin mother rejoicing in him carried him in her arms; but angels surrounded him as a circle, praising him, as body guards standing about a king. Then Simeon came in haste to lady Mary, and spreading out his hands before her, said to the Lord Christ, Now O my Lord,