Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/511

Rh judgeth all, and to scourge the Just One, Lord of the just. And when we drew nigh to Him, O Herod, a great voice was heard from heaven, and dreadful thunder, and the earth trembled, and gave forth a sweet smell, like unto which was never perceived even in the temple of Jerusalem. Now while I stood in the way, our Lord saw me as He stood and talked with his disciples. But I prayed in my heart, for I knew that it was He whom ye delivered unto me, that He was Lord of created things and Creator of all. But we, when we saw Him, all of us fell upon our faces before his feet. And I said with a loud voice, I have sinned, O Lord, in that I sat and judged Thee, who avengest all in truth. And lo, I know that thou art God, the Son of God, and I beheld thy humanity and not thy divinity. But Herod, with the children of Israel, constrained me to do evil unto thee. Have pity, therefore, upon me, O God of Israel!

And my wife, in great anguish, said, God of heaven and of earth, God of Israel, reward me not according to the deeds of Pontius Pilate, nor according to the will of the children of Israel, nor according to the thought of the sons of the priests; but remember my husband in thy glory!

Now our Lord drew near and raised up me and my wife, and the Romans; and I looked at Him and saw there were on Him the scars of his cross. And