Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/545

Rh Paradise. And there was much light in the dwelling; and the house was suspended by the four corners, and the place was free, and I went out. I recognised Jesus first, therefore, and then the robber, who was bringing letters to Jesus. And as we journeyed into Galilee there shone a great light, such as nature never produced, and great was the fragrance of the robber, which came from Paradise.

And while Jesus was sitting in a certain place he read thus : —

The Cherubim and the six-winged ones that are commanded by thy Divinity to keep the garden of Paradise, by the hands of the robber who was crucified with Thee by thine arrangement we declare this.

Seeing the mark of the nails on the robber that was crucified with thee, and in the letters the splendour of thy divinity, the fire was extinguished indeed, being unable to endure the brightness of the symbol, and we being in great fear were filled with dismay; for we had heard that the Maker of heaven and earth and all creation had journeyed from on high into the lower parts of the earth for the sake of Adam the first-formed. For when we saw the undefiled cross flashing upon the robber, with a light sevenfold greater than that of the glittering sun, trembling came upon us who shared the agitation of those in the underworld, and with a loud voice the