Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/316

 ground before the apostle, took hold of his feet, beseeching and saying, "Disciple of the living God, thou hast come into a desert country. For we live in a desert, because by our life we are like the irrational animals; but now we shall be saved through thy hands. I beseech thee, therefore, care for me and pray for me, that the mercy of God, whom thou preachest, come upon me and I become his maid, and have part in the prayer and in the hope and in the faith on him, and receive also the seal and become a holy temple and he dwell in me."

88. And the apostle said, "I pray and ask for you all, brethren, which believe in the Lord, and for you, sisters, which hope in the Messiah, that the word of God may rest on you all and dwell in you; for we have no power over you." And he began to speak to the woman Mygdonia: "Rise up from the ground and consider. For this ornament which thou hast on will not help thee any, nor the beauty of thy body, nor thy garments. Neither the fame of the authority which surrounds thee, nor the power of this world, nor this filthy intercourse with thy husband will be of use to thee, if thou art deprived of the true intercourse. For the exhibition of jewelry is destroyed, and the body ages and changes, and the garments wax old, and the power and dominion pass by, accompanied by the responsibility for each's behavior in it (the rule). And the communion of begetting children also passes by, since it is an object of contempt. Jesus alone always remains and they which hope in him." When he had spoken this, he