Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/254

 to the bride, "Wherefore dost thou sit thus, child, and art not ashamed, but actest as if thou hadst for a long time lived with thine own husband?" And her father said, "It is because of thy great love to thy husband that thou art uncovered?"

14. And the bride answered and said, "Truly, father, I am in great love, and I pray to my Lord to continue to me the love which I have experienced this night, and that I obtain that man whom I have experienced to-day. That I do not cover myself is, because the mirror of shame has been taken away from me; I am no longer ashamed or abashed, since the work of shame and bashfulness has been removed far from me. And that I am not frightened is, because fright did not abide in me. And that I am cheerful and glad is, because the day of joy has not been disturbed. And that I have lightly esteemed this husband, and these nuptials that have passed away, from before mine eyes, is, because I have been joined in a different marriage. And that I had no conjugal intercourse with a temporary husband, whose end is repentance and bitterness of soul, is, because I have been united to the true husband."

15. And when the bride was saying yet more, the bridegroom answered and said, " I thank thee, Lord, who hast been proclaimed by the stranger and found by us; who hast put corruption far from me, and hast sown life in me, who hast delivered me from this disease, hard to heal, and hard to treat, and abiding for ever, and established in me