The Apocryphal New Testament

"O God that sentest us into the world: that didst reveal thyself by the law and the prophets: that didst never rest, but always from the foundation of the world savedst them that were able to be saved: that madest thyself known through all nature: that proclaimedst thyself even among beasts: that didst make the desolate and savage soul tame and quiet: that gavest thyself to it when it was athirst for thy words: that didst appear to it in haste when it was dying: that didst show thyself to it as a law when it was sinking into lawlessness: that didst manifest thyself to it when it had been vanquished by Satan: that didst overcome its adversary when it fled unto thee: that gavest it thine hand and didst raise it up from the things of Hades: that didst not leave it to walk after a bodily sort (in the body): that didst show to it its own enemy: that hast made for it a clear knowledge toward thee: O God, Jesu, the Father of them that are above the heavens, the law of them that are in the ether, the course of them that are in the air, the keeper of them that are ion the earth, the fear of them that are under the earth, the grace of them that are thine own: receive also the soul of thy John, which it may be accounted worthy by thee . . . And as I come unto thee, let the fire go backward, let the darkness be overcome, let the gulf be without strength . . . Let angels follow, let devils fear . . . and grant me to accomplish the journey unto thee."
The Apocryphal New Testament, Acts of John, 112, 114, (Christianity, Words of St. John)