(357) The true word about God is the word of God.

(16) For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

(44) And whatever is otherwise is wrong, and contrary to God and His will, and therefore it is sin. Therefore all will apart from God’s will (that is, all self-will) is sin, and so is all that is done from self-will. So long as a man seeketh his own will and his own highest Good, because it is His and for his own sake, he will never find it; for so long as he doeth this, he is not seeking his own highest Good, and how then should he find it? For so long as he doeth this, he seeketh himself, and dreameth that he is himself the highest Good; and seeing that he is not the highest Good, he seeketh not the highest Good, so long as he seeketh himself. But whosoever seeketh, loveth, and pursueth Goodness as Goodness and for the sake of Goodness, and maketh that his end, for nothing but the love of Goodness, not for love of the I, Me, Mine, Self, and the like, he will find the highest Good, for he seeketh it aright, and they who seek it otherwise do err. And truly it is on this wise that the true and Perfect Goodness seeketh and loveth and pursueth itself, and therefore it findeth itself.

(67) And herein lies the whole Christian doctrine: He that teacheth otherwise does not know what he teacheth, for his doctrine has no foot, ground or foundation, and his heart always tottereth, wavereth and doubteth, and knoweth not what it should do.

(34) Some may say: “Now since God willeth and desireth and doeth the best that may be to every one, He ought so to help each man and order things for him, that they should fall out according to his will and fulfil his desires, so that one might be a Pope, another a Bishop, and so forth.” Be assured, he who helpeth a man to his own will, helpeth him to the worst that he can. For the more a man followeth after his own self-will, and self-will groweth in him, the farther off is he from God, the true Good, for nothing burneth in hell but self-will. Therefore it hath been said, “Put off thine own will, and there will be no hell.” Now God is very willing to help a man and bring him to that which is best in itself, and is of all things the best for man. But to this end, all self-will must depart, as we have said. And God would fain give man His help and counsel thereunto, for so long as a man is seeking his own good, he doth not seek what is best for him, and will never find it. For a man’s highest good would be and truly is, that he should not seek himself nor his own things, nor be his own end in any respect, either in things spiritual or things natural, but should seek only the praise and glory of God and His holy will. This doth God teach and admonish us. Let him therefore who wisheth that God should help him to what is best, and best for him, give diligent heed to God’s counsels and teachings, and obey His commandments; thus, and not else, will he have, and hath already, God’s help. Now God teacheth and admonisheth man to forsake himself and all things, and to follow Him only. “For he who loveth his soul,”42 that is himself, and will guard it and keep it, “he shall lose it”; that is, he who seeketh himself and his own advantage in all things, in so doing loseth his soul. “But he who hateth his soul for My sake shall keep it unto life eternal”; that is, he who forsaketh himself and his own things, and giveth up his own will, and fulfilleth God’s will, his soul will be kept and preserved unto Life Eternal.

(10) My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

(12) Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were unto John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

(51) And their purification is sincerity, on that you may depend. The witness of word consists in speaking the truth, The witness of acts in keeping one's promises. If the witness of word lie, its evidence is rejected, And if the witness of act play false, it is rejected. Your words and acts must be without self-contradiction "Your aims are different," and you contradict yourselves, You sew by day, and tear to pieces by night. How can God listen to such contradictory witness, Unless He be pleased to decide on it in mercy?

(47) Therefore it is evil or not good, and is merely nought. God loveth also works, but not all works. Which then? Such as are done from the teaching and guidance of the True Light and the True Love; and what is done from these and in these, is done in spirit and in truth, and what is thereof, is God’s, and pleaseth Him well. But what is done of the false Light and false Love, is all of the Wicked One; and especially what happeneth, is done or left undone, wrought or suffered from any other will, or desire, or love, than God’s will, or desire, or love. This is, and cometh to pass, without God and contrary to God, and is utterly contrary to good works, and is altogether sin.

(31) For the Testator stands in the Covenant, and says, Come; and whosoever does not desire to come, goes not in to him. Therefore it lies not in our high Knowledge, for he stands in his Covenant; and the Child that is newly born is as acceptable to him, as an old sinful Man that repents and steps into his Covenant. For it laid not in us that he became Man, and received us into his Love, but it laid in his Love, in his i Mercy; for we knew nothing of him, nor did we know whether we could be helped or no; but he alone chose us, and came to us out of Grace, kin our Humanity, and took Pity on us; and so also the Covenant of his Promise was a Covenant of Grace and not of our Foreknowing or Merit. And therefore whosoever teaches otherwise is in Babel, and confounds the Covenant of Christ.

(5) The Savior said to them: "I want you to know that all men are born on earth from the foundation of the world until now, being dust, while they have inquired about God, who he is and what he is like, have not found him. Now the wisest among them have speculated from the ordering of the world and (its) movement. But their speculation has not reached the truth. For it is said that the ordering is directed in three ways, by all the philosophers, (and) hence they do not agree. For some of them say about the world that it is directed by itself. Others, that it is providence (that directs it). Others, that it is fate. But it is none of these. Again, of the three voices I have just mentioned, none is close to the truth, and (they are) from man. But I, who came from Infinite Light, I am here - for I know him (Light) - that I might speak to you about the precise nature of the truth. For whatever is from itself is a polluted life; it is self-made. Providence has no wisdom in it. And fate does not discern. But to you it is given to know; and whoever is worthy of knowledge will receive (it), whoever has not been begotten by the sowing of unclean rubbing but by First Who Was Sent, for he is an immortal in the midst of mortal men."

(39) It is said, and truly, God is above and without custom, measure, and order, and yet giveth to all things their custom, order, measure, fitness, and the like. The which is to be thus understood. God will have all these to be, and they cannot have a being in Himself without the creature, for in God, apart from the creature, there is neither order nor disorder, custom nor chance, and so forth; therefore He will have things so that these shall be, and shall be put in exercise. For wherever there is word, work, or change, these must be either according to order, custom, measure and fitness, or according to unfitness and disorder. Now fitness and order are better and nobler than their contraries. But ye must mark: There are four sorts of men who are concerned with order, laws, and customs. Some keep them neither for God’s sake, nor to serve their own ends, but from constraint: these have as little to do with them as may be, and find them a burden and heavy yoke. The second sort obey for the sake of reward: these are men who know nothing beside, or better than, laws and precepts, and imagine that by keeping them they may obtain the kingdom of Heaven and Eternal Life, and not otherwise; and him who practiseth many ordinances they think to be holy, and him who omitteth any tittle of them they think to be lost.

(5) And the judgment of all is ordained arid written on the heavenly tables in right- eousness—even (the judgment of) all who depart from the path which is ordained for them to walk in ; and if they walk not therein, judgment is written down for every creature and for every kind.

(1) JUDGE not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

(50) "For if I should say, God's love had willed the evil, or that there was a false science [text: Scientz] or root in God's love and meekness, then I should speak contrary to the Scripture: For what God's love knoweth sensibly or feelingly in itself, that it also willeth, and nothing else. And what God's wrath knoweth sensibly in itself, that he also knoweth, and nothing else.

(15) The truth of the matter is this that, just as the seed of man becomes a man, and a buried date stone becomes a palm tree, so the knowledge of God acquired on Earth will in the Next World change into the Vision of God, and he who has never learnt the knowledge will never have the Vision. This Vision will not be shared alike by all who know, but their discernment of it will vary exactly as their knowledge. God is one, but He will be seen in many different ways, just as one object is reflected in different ways by different mirrors, some showing it straight, and some distorted, some clearly and some dimly. A mirror may be so crooked as to make even a beautiful form appear misshapen, and a man may carry into the next world a heart so dark and distorted that the sight which will be a

(14) Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

(11) "The word is like a grain of wheat. When someone sowed it, he had faith in it, and when it sprouted, he loved it, because he saw many grains instead of just one. And after he worked, he was saved because he prepared it as food and he still kept some out to sow.

(366) It is better for you to be silent about the word of God, than to speak recklessly.

(19) For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.