Forbidden Gospels and Epistles, Complete

CHAPTER XIII.

1 A girl, whose blood Sa­tan sucked re­ceives one of Christ’s swad­dling clothes from the Vir­gin, 14 Sa­tan comes like a drag­on, and she shews it to him; flames and burn­ing coals pro­ceed from it and fall up­on him; 19 he is mirac­ulous­ly dis­com­fit­ed, and leaves the girl.

THERE was al­so a girl, who was af­flict­ed by Sa­tan,

2 For that cursed spir­it did fre­quent­ly ap­pear to her in the shape of a drag­on, and was in­clined to swal­low her up, and had so sucked out all her blood, that she looked like a dead car­cass.

3 As of­ten as she came to her­self, with her hands wringed about her head she would cry out, and say, Wo, Wo is me, that there is no one to be found, who can de­liv­er me from that im­pi­ous drag­on!

4 Her fa­ther and moth­er, and all who were about her and saw her, mourned and wept over her;

5 And all who were present would es­pe­cial­ly be un­der sor­row and in tears, when they heard her be­wail­ing and say­ing, My brethren and friends, is here no one who can de­liv­er me from this mur­der­er?

6 Then the prince’s daugh­ter, who had been cured of her lep­rosy, hear­ing the com­plaint of that girl, went up­on the top of her cas­tle, and saw her with her hands twist­ed about her head, pour­ing out a flood of tears, and all the peo­ple that were about her in tears.

7 Then she asked the hus­band of the pos­sessed per­son, Whether his wife’s moth­er was alive? He told her, That her fa­ther and moth­er were both alive,

8 Then she or­dered her moth­er to be sent to her; to whom, when she saw her com­ing, she said, Is this pos­sessed girl thy daugh­ter? She moan­ing and be­wail­ing said, Yes madam I bore her.

9 The prince’s daugh­ter an­swered, Dis­close the se­cret of her case to me, for I con­fess to you that I was lep­rous, but the La­dy Mary, the moth­er of Je­sus Christ, healed me.

10 And if you de­sire your daugh­ter to be re­stored to her for­mer state, take her to Beth­le­hem, and in­quire for Mary the moth­er of Je­sus, and doubt not but your daugh­ter will be cured; for I do not ques­tion but you will come home with great joy at your daugh­ter’s re­cov­ery.

11 As soon as ev­er she had done speak­ing, she arose and went with her daugh­ter to the place ap­point­ed, and to Mary, and told her the case of her daugh­ter.

12 When St. Mary had heard her sto­ry, she gave her a lit­tle of the wa­ter with which she had washed the body of her son Je­sus, and bade her pour it up­on the body of her daugh­ter.

13 Like­wise she gave her one of the swad­dling cloths of the Lord Je­sus, and said, Take this swad­dling cloth, and shew it to thine en­emy as of­ten as thou seest him and she sent them away in peace.

14 Af­ter they bad left that city and re­turned home, and the time was come in which Sa­tan was wont to seize her, in the same mo­ment this cursed spir­it ap­peared to her in the shape of a huge drag­on, and the girl see­ing him was afraid,

15 The moth­er said to her, Be not afraid, daugh­ter; let him alone till he come near­er to thee! then shew him the swad­dling cloth, which the La­dy Mary gave us, and we shall see the event.

16 Sa­tan then com­ing like a dread­ful drag­on, the body of the girl trem­bled for fear.

17 But as soon as she had put the swad­dling cloth up­on her head, and about her eyes, and chewed it to him, present­ly there is­sued forth from the swad­dling cloth flames and burn­ing coals, and fell up­on the drag­on.

18 Oh! how great a mir­acle was this, which was done: as soon as the drag­on saw the swad­dling cloth of the Lord Je­sus, fire went forth and was scat­tered up­on his head and eyes; so that he cried out with a loud voice, What have I to do with thee, Je­sus, thou son of Mary? Whith­er shall I flee from thee?

19 So he drew back much af­fright­ed, and left the girl.

20 And she was de­liv­ered from this trou­ble, and sang prais­es and thanks to God, and with her all who were present at the work­ing of the mir­acle.