hath of His mercy granted much to you,
in that He hath thus willed to reveal to you His secrets.
Now are your provinces and your towns
filled with holy churches and with the Saviour's faith;
be ye now yourselves ready to turn to Christ
that ye may be baptized from former sins,
and may be sanctified in the saving font.'
Then said Gad straightway to God's apostle:
I beheld the buildings which thou buildedst for my brother,
and angels interceded for me to the Almighty Saviour
that I might buy them.' Then said Thomas blithely:
' It standeth with thy brother whether thou mayest buy them.'
Then the king Gondophorus said to his brother:
' Since it is made for me, I think that it is mine;
let the apostle make for thee another work like it;
if, however, he cannot make another,
it may serve us both to possess this one.'
Then said the holy apostle: ' The Saviour hath builded
unnumbered dwellings and spacious palaces
from the beginning of the world magnificently in heaven;
and they can be purchased with true faith.
If then ye will now rather be busy about those buildings,
and wish to speak in earnest concerning the heavenly riches,
then may your possessions run before you;
and they cannot follow you at your death.
Let now your goods profit the widows,
the poor, and the sick; and know, of a truth,
that they shall be kept for you, a hundred-fold,
where no ending shall come to you for ever.'
Then sprang his fame widely throughout the land,
that to India had come Christ's apostle,
one who could heal by the touch of his hands
the deaf and the blind, and raise the dead.
