(36) And there all the holy Souls and Angels (in one Love) will highly rejoice, that the poor Soul is delivered from such great Necessity [or Misery;] and the great Joy then takes its Beginning from thence, of which Christ said; That there is more Joy for one Sinner that repents, than for ninety and nine Righteous that need no Repentance. And the Soul will praise God, that he has redeemed it out of these great Sins; and herewith the Praise of Christ [in] his Merit, Passion, and Dying for the poor Soul, springs up in Eternity, and it is the right Song of the redeemed Bride, which rises up in the Father, where the Souls so highly rejoice, that the Driver is captivated, and his Confederates [or Followers.]

(35) Now behold, thou beloved Soul, who art dearly redeemed by thy Saviour Jesus Christ, with his Entrance into the Humanity, and with his Entrance in the Abyss of Hell, and plucked off from the Kingdom of the Devil, in the Might of the Father, and sealed with his Blood and Death, and covered with his Ensign of Triumph, all thy Works, [both] the evil and the good which thou hast done, follow thee in the Shadow, but not in the Substance, nor in the Source, [or in the working Property.] Yet they will not be any Prejudice in the Heaven to the holy Souls, which have turned into the Regeneration in Christ, but they shall have their highest Joy concerning them, in that they have stuck in such hard Misery and Sins, and have been plucked out of them by their Saviour Christ; and from thence will arise mere Joy and Rejoicing, that they are redeemed from the Driver of their Sins, and from great Misery, and that the Driver is captivated, which tormented them Day and Night in such Sins.

(46) O soul, persistent one, in what ignorance you exist! For who is your guide into the darkness? How many likenesses did Christ take on because of you! Although he was God, he was found among men as a man. He descended to the Underworld. He released the children of death. They were in travail, as the scripture of God has said. And he sealed up the (very) heart of it (the Underworld). And he broke its (the Underworld's) strong bows completely. And when all the powers had seen him, they fled, so that he might bring you, wretched one, up from the Abyss, and might die for you as a ransom for your sin. He saved you from the strong hand of the Underworld.

(58) Now if thou wilt [turn] to the Virgin again, then thou must be born anew through the Water in the Center, and [through] the Holy Ghost; and then thou shalt receive her again with greater Honour and Joy; of which Christ said; There will be more Joy in Heaven for one Sinner that repenteth, than for ninety and nine Righteous, who need no Repentance; so very gloriously is the poor Sinner received again of the Virgin, that ait must no more be a Shadow, but a living and understanding Creature, and [an] Angel of God. This joy none can express, only a regenerate Soul knows it; which the Body understands not; but it trembles, and knows not what is done to it.

(1) "'1. My soul, praise the Lord, let all that is in me praise his holy name. "'2. My soul, praise the Lord and forget not all his requitals. "'3. Who forgiveth all thy iniquities; who healeth all thy sicknesses; "'4. Who redeemeth thy life from decay; who wreatheth thee with grace and compassion; "'5. Who satisfieth thy longing with good things; thy youth will renew itself as an eagle's.' "That is: Sophia will be as the invisibles who are in the Height; he hath, therefore, said 'as an eagle,' because the dwelling-place of the eagle is in the height, and the invisibles also are in the Height; that is: Pistis Sophia will shine as the invisibles, as she was from her beginning." It came to pass then, when the First Mystery had heard Mary say these words, that he said: "Well said, Mary, blessed one."

(3) Jesus said: "If the time of such an one is completed through the sphere, the receivers of Bainchōōōch, who is one of the triple-powered gods, come after his soul and lead his soul with joy and exultation and spend three days circling round with it and instructing it concerning the creations of the world with joy and exultation. "Thereafter they lead it down into the Amente and instruct it concerning the instruments of chastisement in the Amente; but they will not take vengeance on it therewith. But they will only instruct it concerning them, and the smoke of the flame of the chastisements catcheth it only a little. "Thereafter they carry it up unto the way of the midst and instruct it concerning the chastisements of the ways of the midst, the smoke from the flame catching it a little. "Thereafter they lead it unto the Virgin of Light, and she judgeth it and depositeth it with the little Sabaōth, the Good, him of the Midst, until the sphere turneth itself, and Zeus and Aphrodite come in face of the Virgin of Light, while Kronos and Arēs come behind her. "At that hour she taketh that righteous soul and handeth it over to her receivers, that they may cast it into the peons of the sphere. And the servitors of the sphere lead it forth into a water which is below the sphere; and a seething fire ariseth and eateth into it until it purifieth it utterly. "Thereafter cometh Yaluham, the receiver of Sabaōth, the Adamas, who giveth the cup of forgetfulness unto the souls, and he bringeth the water of forgetfulness and handeth it to the soul; [and it drinketh it] and forgetteth all things and all the regions to which it had gone.

(75) xThey make no Intercession for thee, neither does it avail any Thing; for thou must be regenerated anew, through earnest Sorrow and Repentance; thou must light down from off thy Beast, and must go on Foot with Christ over the Brook Kedron, into his Sufferings and Death; and through him thou must rise again out of his Grave; thou thyself must come to this. Another cannot save thee; thou must enter into the Birth of Jesus Christ, and with him be conceived by the Holy Ghost; thy Soul must in the Word, and in the new Man Christ, in the [one eternal] Element, be born [or brought forth] out of the four Elements into the Water of the Element of eternal Life; thy antichristian feigned Fables help thee not; for it is said, Such Belief as People have, such a God also they have to bless them.

The savior swallowed death. You must know this. He laid aside the perishable world and made himself into an imperishable aeon, raised himself up, and swallowed the visible with the invisible. Thereby he gave us our immortality. Then, as the messenger Paul said of him, "We suffered with him, we rose with him, and we entered heaven with him." Now, since we are seen in this world, we wear it like a garment. From the savior we radiate beams, and we are held in his arms until our own sunset, our death in this life. We are drawn to heaven by him, like beams, by the sun, and nothing holds us down. This is the resurrection of the spirit, which swallows up the soul and the flesh.

(4) "The soul of such or such a man of whom I think in my heart,--if it is in the region of the chastisements of the dungeons of the outer darkness, or if it is in the rest of the chastisements of the dungeons of the outer darkness and in the rest of the chastisements of the dragons,--then is it to be removed out of them all. And if it hath completed its number of its circuits of the changes, then is it to be led before the Virgin of Light, and the Virgin of Light is to seal it with the seal of the Ineffable and cast it down in whatever month into a righteous body which shall find the mysteries of the Light, so that it may be good, go on high and inherit the Light-kingdom. And moreover if it hath completed the circuits of changes, then is that soul to be led before the seven virgins of the Light who [are set] over the baptisms, and they are to apply them to the soul and seal it with the sign of the kingdom of the Ineffable and lead it into the orders of the Light. "This then will ye say when ye perform the mystery. "Amēn, I say unto you: The soul for which ye shall pray, if it indeed is in the dragon of the outer darkness, he will draw his tail out of his mouth and let go that soul. And moreover if it is in all the regions of the judgments of the rulers, amēn, I say unto you: The receivers of Melchisedec will with haste snatch it away, whether the dragon let it go or it is in the judgments of the rulers; in a word, the receivers of Melchisedec will snatch it away out of all the regions in which it is, and will lead it into the region of the Midst before the Virgin of Light, and the Virgin of Light proveth it and seeth the sign of the kingdom of the Ineffable which is on that soul. "And if it hath not yet completed its number of circuits in the changes of the soul, or [in the changes] of the body, the Virgin of Light sealeth it with an excellent seal and hasteth to have it cast down in any month into a righteous body which shall find the mysteries of the Light, be good and go on high into the Light-kingdom. "And if that soul hath had its number of the circuits, then the Virgin of Light proveth it, and doth not have it chastized, because it hath had its number of circuits, but handeth it over to the seven virgins of the Light. And the seven virgins of the Light prove that soul, baptize it with their baptisms and give it the spiritual chrism and lead it into the Treasury of the Light and put it in the last order of the Light until the ascension of all the perfect souls. And when they prepare to draw apart the veils of the region of those of the Right, they cleanse that soul anew and purify it and put it in the orders of the first saviour who [is] in the Treasury of the Light."

(4) Without, then, any merit of their deeds, Stationed are they in different gradations, Differing only in their first acuteness. 'Tis true that in the early centuries, With innocence, to work out their salvation Sufficient was the faith of parents only. After the earlier ages were completed, Behoved it that the males by circumcision Unto their innocent wings should virtue add; But after that the time of grace had come Without the baptism absolute of Christ, Such innocence below there was retained. Look now into the face that unto Christ Hath most resemblance; for its brightness only Is able to prepare thee to see Christ." On her did I behold so great a gladness Rain down, borne onward in the holy minds Created through that altitude to fly, That whatsoever I had seen before Did not suspend me in such admiration, Nor show me such similitude of God. And the same Love that first descended there, "Ave Maria, gratia plena," singing, In front of her his wings expanded wide.

(6) Now therefore as we know, that Christ (by his Entrance into the Incarnation) has opened a Door into Heaven, into his holy Body, so that we (through a true Repentance and Confidence) may come to him and put the new white Garment of his Innocence, in his Love, upon our Souls, so we know also that the Soul stands yet fast bound with two Chains. One is the Birth of its own Life, whose most inward Root is Poison and Wrathfulness; and so the Soul being [sprung] out of the eternal Source, and having its Originality out of the Eternity, none can redeem it in its own Root of Eternity, or bring it out of the Anger, except there come one who is the Love in itself, and be born in its own very Birth, that so he may bring it out of the Anger, and set it in the Love in himself, as it was done in Christ.

(2) And the Saviour answered and said unto Mary: "A righteous man who is perfected in all righteousness and who hath never committed any sin of any kind, and such an one who never hath received mysteries of the Light, if the time is at hand when he goeth forth out of the body, then straightway come the receivers of one of the great triple-powers,--those among whom there is a great [one],--snatch away the soul of that man from the hands of the retributive receivers and spend three days circling with it in all the creatures of the world. After three days they lead it down into the chaos, so as to lead it into all the chastisements of the judgments and to dispatch it to all the judgments. The fires of the chaos do not trouble it greatly; but they will trouble it partly for a short time. "And with haste they take pity on it quickly, to lead it up out of the chaos and lead it on the way of the midst through all the rulers. And they [ sc. the rulers] do not chastize it in their harsh judgments, but the fire of their regions troubleth it partly. And if it shall be brought into the region of Yachthanabas, the pitiless, then will he indeed not be able to chastize it in his evil judgments, but he holdeth it fast a short time, while the fire of his chastisements troubleth it partly. And again they take pity on it quickly, and lead it up out of those regions of theirs and they do not bring it into the æons, so that the rulers of the æons do not carry it away ravishingly; they bring it on the way of the sun and bring it before the Virgin of Light. She proveth it and findeth that it is pure of sins, but letteth them not bring it to the Light, because the sign of the kingdom of the mystery is not with it. But she sealeth it with a higher seal and letteth it be cast down into the body into the æons of righteousness,--that body which will be good to find the signs of the mysteries of the Light and inherit the Light-kingdom for ever. "If on the contrary he hath sinned once or twice or thrice, then will he be cast back into the world again according to the type of the sins which he hath committed, the type of which I will tell you when I shall have told you the expansion of the universe. "But amēn, amēn, I say unto you: Even if a righteous man hath committed no sins at all, he cannot possibly be brought into the Light-kingdom, because the sign of the kingdom of the mysteries is not with him. In a word, it is impossible to bring souls into the Light without the mysteries of the Light-kingdom."

(1) Tat: [Now] in the General Sermons, father, thou didst speak in riddles most unclear, conversing on Divinity; and when thou saidst no man could e'er be saved before Rebirth, thy meaning thou didst hide. Further, when I became thy Suppliant, in Wending up the Mount, after thou hadst conversed with me, and when I longed to learn the Sermon (Logos) on Rebirth (for this beyond all other things is just the thing I know not), thou saidst, that thou wouldst give it me - "when thou shalt have become a stranger to the world". Wherefore I got me ready and made the thought in me a stranger to the world-illusion. And now do thou fill up the things that fall short in me with what thou saidst would give me the tradition of Rebirth, setting it forth in speech or in the secret way. I know not, O Thrice-greatest one, from out what matter and what womb Man comes to birth, or of what seed.

(5) "Blessings on one who has seen you with him when he is proclaimed among the angels and glorified among the saints. Yours is life. Rejoice and be glad as children of god. Observe his will that you may be saved. Accept correction from me and save yourselves. I am mediating for you with the father, and he will forgive you many things."

(23) Thus know (my beloved Reader) that our Father Adam is gone out of this Glory into the Out-Birth of the Substance of this World; and now if he is to be helped, then the Barmhertzigkeit, or Mercifulness of God (as above-mentioned) must new regenerate him; and in this Mercifulness of God Man was foreseen (before the Foundation of the World was laid) to live eternally therein, for (as to his Soul) he is out of the eternal Will of God the Father, out of which this Mercifulness is generated. The Gate of Immanuel.

(6) The Savior was an image of the unitary one, he who is the Totality in bodily form. Therefore, he preserved the form of indivisibility, from which comes impassability. They, however, are images of each thing which became manifest. Therefore, they assume division from the pattern, having taken form for the planting which exists beneath the heaven. This also is what shares in the evil which exists in the places which they have reached. For the will held the Totality under sin, so that by that will he might have mercy on the Totality and they might be saved, while a single one alone is appointed to give life, and all the rest need salvation. Therefore, it was from (reasons) of this sort that it began to receive grace to give the honors which were proclaimed by Jesus, which were suitable for him to proclaim to the rest, since a seed of the promise of Jesus Christ was set up, whom we have served in (his) revelation and union. Now the promise possessed the instruction and the return to what they are from the first, from which they possess the drop, so as to return to him, which is that which is called "the redemption." And it is the release from the captivity and the acceptance of freedom. In its places, the captivity of those who were slaves of ignorance holds sway. The freedom is the knowledge of the truth which existed before the ignorance was ruling, forever without beginning and without end, being something good, and a salvation of things, and a release from the servile nature in which they have suffered.

(1) And Mary continued and said unto the Saviour: "My Lord, if a man hath received the mysteries of the Light which [are] in the first space from without, and when the time of the mysteries up to which they reach, is completed, and if that man continueth anew to receive mysteries of the mysteries which [are] within the mysteries which he hath already received, and moreover that man hath become negligent, not having prayed in the prayer which taketh away the evil of the victuals which he eateth and drinketh, and through the evil of the victuals he is bound to the axle of the Fate of the rulers and through the necessity of the elements he hath sinned anew after the completion of the time up to which the mystery reacheth,--because he hath become negligent and hath not prayed in the prayer which taketh away the evil of the souls and purifieth them,--and that man is come out of the body before he hath repented anew and anew received the mysteries of the mysteries which [are] within the mysteries which he hath already received,--those which accept repentance from him and forgive his sins,--and when he I came forth out of the body and we knew with certainty that they have carried him into the midst of the dragon of the outer darkness because of the sins which he committed, and that that man hath no helper in the world nor any one compassionate, that he should perform the mystery of the Ineffable until he should be removed out of the midst of the dragon of the outer darkness and led into the Light-kingdom,--now, therefore, my Lord, what will befall him until he save himself from the chastisements of the dragon of the outer darkness? By no means, O Lord, abandon him, because he hath endured sufferings in the persecutions and in the whole godhood in which he is. "Now, therefore, O Saviour, have mercy with me, lest one of our kinsmen should be in such a type, and have mercy with all the souls which shall be in this type; for thou art the key which openeth the door of the universe and shutteth the door of the universe, and thy mystery comprehendeth them all. Have then mercy, O Lord, with such souls. For they have called on the name of thy mysteries, [were it but] for one single day, and have truly had faith in them and were not in play-acting. Give them then, O Lord, a gift in thy goodness and give them rest in thy mercy." When then Mary had said this, the Saviour called her most exceedingly blessed because of the words which she had spoken. And the Saviour was in great compassion and said unto Mary: "Unto all men who shall be in this type of which thou hast spoken, unto them while they [are] still in life, give ye the mystery of one of the twelve names of the dungeons of the dragon of the outer darkness,--those which I will give you when I have ended explaining unto you the universe from within without and from without within.

(14) But if any would attain Salvation, he must be born again, through the Water in the Center of the Birth of Life, which springs up in the Center of the Light of God; for which End God the Father has by his Son commanded Baptism, that so we might have a Law, and a remarkable Sign of Remembrance, signifying how a Child void of Understanding receives an outward Sign, and the inward Man the Power and the new Birth in the Center of the Birth of Life; and that there arises the Confirmation, which the Light of God brought into Adam, when the Light of God the Father, in the Center of the fifth Form of the Birth of the Life of Adam, broke forth or sprung up. Thus it is both in the Baptism of an Infant or Child, and also in the repenting Convert, that in Christ returns again to the Father.

(2) And when the Saviour had said this, Mary started forward to Salome, embraced her and said unto her: "My sister Salome, concerning the word which thou hast spoken: It standeth written in the Law of Moses: 'He who shall abandon his father and his mother, let him die the death,'--now, therefore, my sister Salome, the Law hath not said this concerning the soul nor concerning the body nor concerning the counterfeiting spirit, for all these are sons of the rulers and are out of them. But the Law hath said this concerning the power which hath came forth out of the Saviour, and which is the light-man within us to-day. The Law hath moreover said: Every one who shall remain without the Saviour and all his mysteries, his parents, will not only die the death but go to ruin in destruction." When then Mary had said this, Salome started forward to Mary and embraced her anew. Salome said: "The Saviour hath power to make me understanding like thyself." It came to pass, when the Saviour had heard the words of Mary, that he called her most exceedingly blessed. The Saviour answered and said unto Mary in the midst of his disciples: "Hearken, therefore, Mary, who it is who compelleth the man until he sinneth.

(3) The Saviour answered and said unto Mary: "If a sinner is deserving of the outer darkness, or hath sinned according to the chastisements of the rest of the chastisements and hath not repented, or a sinning man who hath completed his number of circuits in the changes of the body and hath not repented,--if then these men of whom I have spoken, shall come out of the body and be led into the outer darkness, now, therefore, if ye desire to remove them out of the chastisements of the outer darkness and all the judgments and to remove them into a righteous body which shall find the mysteries of the Light, that it may go on high and inherit the Light-kingdom,--then perform this same mystery of the Ineffable which forgiveth sins at every time, and when ye have finished performing the mystery then say: