Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/408

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APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.

CHAPTER XIII.

Hereupon, one of the soldiers who guarded the tomb, came and said in the synagogue, Know that Jesus is risen! The Jews said, How? And he said, First there was an earthquake; then an angel of the Lord bearing lightning came from heaven and rolled away the stone from the sepulchre, and sat upon it. And through fear of him all we soldiers became as dead men, and could neither flee nor speak. And we heard the angel saying to the women who came there to see the sepulchre, Fear not; for I know that ye seek Jesus. He is not here, but is risen, as he foretold you. Stoop down and see the sepulchre where his body lay. But go and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead: and let them go into Galilee, for there shall they find him. Therefore, I tell you this beforehand.

The Jews said to the soldiers, Who were the women who came to the sepulchre, and why did ye not lay hold of them? The soldiers said, Because of fear, and the sight alone of the angel, we could neither speak nor move. The Jews said, As the God of Israel liveth, we believe nothing that ye say. The soldiers said, Jesus performed so great miracles and ye believed not, and will ye now believe us? Ye say truly that God liveth, and in very truth He liveth