Page:The Apocryphal New Testament (1924).djvu/202

 my Father: I will and command that he that is crucified with me [enter in,] receive remission of his sins for my sake, and being clothed with an incorruptible body enter in to paradise, and that he dwell there where no man else is ever able to dwell.

And when this was said, Jesus gave up the ghost on Friday at the ninth hour. And there was darkness over all the land and a great earthquake, so that the sanctuary fell, and the pinnacle of the temple.

IV. 1 And I, Joseph, begged the body and laid it in my new tomb. The body of Demas was not found: that of Gestas was in appearance like that of a dragon.

The Jews imprisoned me on the evening of the sabbath.

2 When it was evening on the first day of the week, at the fifth hour of the night, Jesus came to me with the thief on the right hand. There was great light; the house was raised up by the four corners and I went forth: and I perceived Jesus first, and then the thief bringing a letter to him, and as we journeyed to Galilee there was a very great light, and a sweet fragrance came from the thief.

3 Jesus sat down in a certain place and read as follows: The cherubim and the six-winged that are commanded by thy Godhead to keep the garden of paradise make known to thee this. by the hand of the robber that by thy dispensation was crucified with thee. When we saw the mark of the nails on the robber that was crucified with thee and the light of the letters of thy Godhead, the fire was quenched, being unable to bear the light of the mark, and we were in great fear and crouched down. For we heard that the maker of heaven and earth and all creation had come to dwell in the lower parts of the earth for the sake of Adam the first-created. For we beheld the spotless cross, with the robber flashing with light and shining with seven times the light of the sun, and trembling came on us, when we heard the crashing of them beneath the earth, and with a great voice the ministers of Hades said with us: Holy, Holy, Holy, is he that was in the highest in the beginning: and the powers sent up a cry, saying, Lord, thou hast been manifested in heaven and upon earth, giving joy unto the worlds (ages) and saving thine own creation from death.

V. 1 And as I went with Jesus and the robber to Galilee, the form of Jesus was changed and he became wholly light, and angels ministered to him and he conversed with them. I stayed with him three days, and none of the disciples were there.

2 In the midst of the days of unleavened bread his disciple John came, and the robber disappeared. John asked who it was, but Jesus did not answer. John said: Lord, I know that thou hast loved me from the beginning: why dost thou not reveal this man to me? Jesus said: Seekest thou to know hidden things? art thou wholly without understanding? per-