Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/465

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LATIN GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS.
349

gave them unto them. And sitting down they both wrote, saying:

CHAPTER II. (XVIII.)

Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection and life of the dead, permit us to speak mysteries by the death of thy cross, because we are adjured by thee. For thou hast commanded thy servants to relate to no one the secrets of thy Divine Majesty, which thou hast accomplished in the underworld, Now when we had been laid with all our fathers in the pit, in the gloom of darkness, there suddenly appeared the golden glow of the sun and a purple royal light shining upon us. And immediately the father of all the human race, with all the patriarchs and prophets, exulted, saying, This light is the author of eternal light, which hath promised to send us the co-eternal light. And Isaiah cried out, and said, This is the light of the Father, the Son of God, as I foretold when I was living upon earth: The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and they who are in the region of the shadow of death, light was shining among them.[1] And now it is come and hath illumined us who sit in death.

  1. Is. ix. 2.