Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/277

 last not, and of your riches, which must be left behind, and of the possession which is of the earth and grows old, and of garments which spoil and of the beauty which ages and vanishes away, yea, even of the whole body, in which all this is kept, and it grows old and becomes dust, returning into its own nature? For all these things are only a support for the body. But rather believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we proclaim,. that your hope may be upon him and you have in him the eternal life, that he may be your companion in this land of wandering, a haven in this troublous sea and an overflowing fountain in this thirsty land and a house full of food in the place of the hungry, and rest for your souls, and also a physician of the bodies."

38. When the multitude of the assembled heard these things, they wept and said to the apostle, "Man of God, we dare not say that we belong to that God whom thou preachest, because our works which we have done are alien from him, not pleasing to him. But if he has compassion upon us and pities us, and delivers us, overlooking our former deeds and frees us from the evil which we have done, when we were in error, and takes not into account nor keeps the recollection of our former sins, we shall become his servants, and we shall do his will to the end." And the apostle answered and said to them, " He neither condemns you nor does he reckon against you the sins done by you, being in error, but he overlooks your transgressions which you have done ignorantly."