Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/423

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THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS, (II.) 307

CHAPTER VI. (XXII.)

Hades straightway cried, We are conquered; woe unto us. But who art thou that hast so great authority and power? And what art thou, who comest hither without sin — seeming small, and able to do great things, humble and high, servant and Lord, soldier and king, who hast authority over the dead and the living? Thou wast nailed to the cross, and wast laid in the tomb, and now thou art free, and hast dissolved all our power. Art thou, then, the Jesus, of whom the chief ruler Satan said to us, That through the cross and death thou art about to inherit all the world?

Then the King of Glory seized the chief ruler Satan by the head, and delivered him to the angels, and said, Bind with irons his hands and feet and neck and mouth. Then he delivered him to Hades, and said, Take him and keep him safely until my second coming.

CHAPTER VII. (XXIII.)

And Hades took Satan, and said to him, Beelzebub, inheritor of fire and punishment, enemy of the saints, by what necessity hast thou contrived that