Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/361

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though having power over the world and its pleasures, treasures and enjoyments, he < abstains from > all these things and urges on his subjects to make no use thereof."

144. Having finished his address, he rose and prayed thus: "Our Father in the heavens, hallowed be thy name; thy Kingdom come; thy will be done as in heaven, so also on earth; < give us continually the daily bread; > forgive us our trespasses as we have forgiven our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.[1] My Lord and my God,[2] hope and trust and teacher < and my encourager, > thou hast taught me thus to pray. Behold, I pray this prayer and fulfill thy behest. Be thou with me unto the end. Thou hast planted life in me from my infancy and hast kept me from destruction. Thou hast led me into the poverty of the world and hast invited me to the true riches. Thou hast manifested thyself to me and shown me that I am thine; and I kept aloof from a woman, in order that the things which thou demandest be not found in pollution.

145. "My mouth is unable to thank thee, and my mind unable to consider thy zeal for me; who hast shown me, whilst I wished to become rich and to acquire, that riches become a punishment for many on earth. But I believed thy revelation and remained in the poverty of the world till thou, the

  1. Comp. Matt. VI, 9-13.
  2. John XX, 28.