Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/294

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

up to me. For I was not told to leave her here; I shall take her up with me, till I get an injunction about her. And he took me and brought me to another place, where there were men who were bitterly tortured. He that is like thee took me and gave me up to thee, saying to thee, Take her, for she is one of the sheep which have wandered away. And thou didst take me, and thus I now stand before thee. I beg, therefore, and supplicate thee that I may not come to those places of punishment which I have seen."

58. And the apostle said, "You have heard what this woman has recounted. And these are not the only punishments, but there are others worse than these. And you too, unless you turn to the God whom I preach, and abstain from your former works and the deeds which you did ignorantly, shall find your end in these punishments. Believe, therefore, in Christ Jesus, and he will forgive you the former sins and will cleanse you from all your bodily desires that abide in the earth, and will heal you from the faults that follow after you, and go along with you, and are found before you. Let every one of you put off the old man and put on the new,[1] and leave your former course of conduct and behavior. Those that steal, let them steal no more, but let them live, laboring and working.[2] The adulterers are no more to commit adultery, lest they give themselves up to everlasting punishment.

  1. Comp. Eph. II, 22; Col. Ill, 9.
  2. Comp. Eph. IV, 28.