Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/475

Rh captives, boldly threaten us. O prince Satan, father of all the impious, wicked, and apostate, why hast thou determined to do thus? They who from the beginning until now despaired of safety and life, their wonted howling is now no longer heard, neither doth any of them utter a groan, nor is a trace of tears found upon the face of any one of them. O prince Satan, possessor of the keys of the underworld, those thy riches which thou hadst gained by the tree of prevarication and the loss of paradise, thou hast now lost by the tree of the cross, and all thy joy is perished. When thou didst hang up that Christ Jesus the King of Glory, thou didst act against thyself and against me. Henceforth thou wilt know what eternal torments and infinite punishments thou shalt suffer in my everlasting prison. O prince Satan, the cause of death and source of all pride, thou oughtest first to have sought out the guilt of that Jesus. Why, when thou knewest no fault in him, didst thou dare to crucify him unjustly, without cause, and bring the innocent and just to our region, and lose the guilty, wicked, and unrighteous of all the world?

And while Hades was saying these things to Satan the prince, then the King of Glory said to Hades, Satan the prince shall be under thy power, for endless ages, in the place of Adam and his sons, my righteous ones.