Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

A CHRISTIAN ROMANCE. 465
"which I desired not, and because Thou hast re-
"served me [until the end of] these hundred and
"seventy years, for when as yet Thou hadst not
"created me Thou didst know me. There is nothing
"which can be hidden from Thee, and everything
"is revealed before Thee, and everything is spread
"out before Thee, and to Thee be praise for ever
"and ever. Amen. And now. Thou, O God,
"knowest that I wish to bind in chains these
"demons and devils that they may not attack the
"beings whom Thou hast formed, and wish the
"nations to know the miracle which Thou hast
"wrought, so that Thy holy Name may be praised. Alexander's
"Thou hast founded the earth upon the waters,
"and Thou hast suspended the heavens without
"a pillar [to support them]. Thou hast ordained
"that the winds shall blow therein, and Thou hast
"made the mountains which are upon the earth
"to be the supports thereof And Thou hast set
"the hills also in a balance, that they may not
"move and fall into the waves of the sea and into
"the billows thereof Moreover, Thou hast Ht up
"the heavens by the sun, and Thou hast created
"the moon and the stars [p. 281] to beautify the
"splendour of the heavens. And all these things
"which Thou hast made were for [the benefit of]
"Adam Thy servant, and Thou didst, O God, de-
"liver all his children out of the hands of the Devil
"and out of the hands of his destroying fiends,
"according to Thy Will and good pleasure, even
"as Thou didst promise unto Noah Thy servant.