Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/210

 brethren with baskets and vessels with thee and follow me! " And Berus did immediately what John, the servant of God, had bidden him. And the blessed John, having gone forth from the house, went outside of the gates, having told the multitude to stand off from him. And having come to the tomb of one of our brethren, he told to the young men: "Dig, children!" And they dug, and he said to them: "Let the trench be deeper." And as they dug, he preached to them the word of God, and exhorted those who had come out of the house with him, building them up, and furnishing them thoroughly into the majesty of God, and praying for each one of us. And when the young men had finished the trench, as he had wished, while we knew nothing, he takes off the clothes he had on, and throws them, as if they were some bedding, into the depths of the trench; and standing in only his drawers, stretched forth his hands, and prayed thus:

112. "O God, who hast chosen us for the apostleship among the Gentiles, who hast sent us into this world, who hast declared thyself through the Law and the prophets; who hast never rested, but always savest from the foundation of the world those who can be saved; who hast made thyself known through all nature, even among the animals,