In their heart, the living book of the living was manifest, the book that was written in the thought and in the mind of the father and, from before the foundation of all, is in that incomprehensible part of him. This is the book that no one found possible to take, since it was reserved for him who will take it and be slain. No one could appear among those who believed in salvation as long as that book had not appeared. For this reason, the compassionate, faithful Jesus was patient in his sufferings until he took that book, since he knew that his death meant life for many. Just as in the case of a will that has not yet been opened, the fortune of the deceased master of the house is hidden, so also in the case of all that had been hidden as long as the father of all was invisible and unique in himself, in whom every space has its source. For this reason Jesus appeared. He put on that book. He was nailed to a cross. He affixed the edict of the father to the cross. Oh, such great teaching! He abases himself even unto death, though he is clothed in eternal life. Having divested himself of these perishable rags, he clothed himself in incorruptibility, which no one could possibly take from him. Having entered into the empty territory of fears, he passed before those who were stripped by forgetfulness, being both knowledge and perfection, proclaiming the things that are in the heart of the father, so that he became the wisdom of those who have received instruction. But those who are to be taught, the living who are inscribed in the book of the living, learn for themselves, receiving instructions from the father, turning to him again. Since the perfection of all is in the father, it is necessary for all to ascend to him. Therefore, if one has knowledge, he gets what belongs to him and draws it to himself. For one who is ignorant is deficient, and it is a great deficiency, since he lacks that which will make him perfect. Since the perfection of all is in the father, it is necessary for all to ascend to him and for each one to get the things that are his. He wrote these things first, having prepared them to be given to those who came from him.

(1) And Jesus answered and said unto Philip and to all the disciples together: "I have changed their path for the salvation of all souls. Amēn, amēn, I say unto you If I had not changed their path, a host of souls would have been destroyed, and they would have spent a long time, if the rulers of the æons and the rulers of the Fate and of the sphere and of all their regions and all their heavens and all their æons had not been brought to naught; and the souls would have continued a long time here outside, and the completion of the number of perfect souls would have been delayed, which [souls] shall be counted in the Inheritance of the Height through the mysteries and shall be in the Treasury of the Light. For this cause then I have changed their path, that they might be deluded and fall into agitation and yield up the power which is in the matter of their world and which they fashion into souls, in order that those who shall be saved, might be quickly purified and raised on high, they and the whole power, and that those who shall not be saved, might be quickly destroyed."

(5) That preparation which they did not accept, they rejected, because of the one who had not been sent from that place, but they granted to Christ, of whom they thought that he exists in that place from which they had come along with him, a place of gods and lords whom they served, worshipped, and ministered to, in the names which they had received on loan. - They were given to the one who is designated by them properly. - However, after his assumption, they had the experience to know that he is their Lord, over whom no one else is lord. They gave him their kingdoms; they rose from their thrones; they were kept from their crowns. He, however, revealed himself to them, for the reasons which we have already spoken of: their salvation and the return to a good thought until [...] companion and the angels [...], and the abundance of good which they did with it. Thus, they were entrusted with the services which benefit the elect, bringing their iniquity up to heaven. They tested them eternally for the lack of humility from the inerrancy of the creation, continuing on their behalf until all come to life and leave life, while their bodies remain on earth, serving all their [...], sharing with them in their sufferings and persecutions and tribulations, which were brought upon the saints in every place.

(4) There were opened all the Doors of the great Wonders, and the Apostles spoke with the Languages of all Nations; and so it may 6e seen clearly, that the Spirit of God had opened all the Centers of all Essences, and spoke out of them all; for Christ was the Lord, and the Heart of all Essences, and therefore the Holy Ghost went out of all Essences, and filled the Essences of all Men who turned their Ears with a Desire to it, and in that he pressed into all; and every one heard (out of his own Essences and Language) the Spirit of God speak out of the Disciples; and the Holy Ghost was born in the Bodies of all their Hearers, who had but an earnest Desire to it, and they were all filled; for the Spirit of God pierced through into their Hearts, as he pressed forth out of the the Center of the Trinity into the whole Body and princely Throne of Jesus Christ, and filled all outwardly in the Clarity [or Glory.]

(31) Look upon Saint Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, who converted three Thousand Souls at one Sermon, he spoke not from the Appointment of the Pharisees, but out of the Spirit of Moses and the Prophets, out of the Temple of the Holy Ghost, that pierced through and enlightened the poor Sinners. But thou teachest Persecution only, consider thereby whence thou didst grow, viz. out of that first Stock, where they fell from the Temple of Christ to human Conceits and Inventions; where they sent forth Teachers according to Man's itching Ears, for a fair Show, that thereby thou mightest grow great in thy Pride; and because thou hast sought nothing else, therefore God has suffered thee to fall into a perverse Sense, so that out of thee there come those that blaspheme the true Doctrine of Christ.

(49) These are the things the blessed Savior said, and he disappeared from them. Then all the disciples were in great, ineffable joy in the spirit from that day on. And his disciples began to preach the Gospel of God, the eternal, imperishable Spirit. Amen.

(46) And then also the holy Bodies went out of the Graves; consider this well; those that had put their Trust in the Messiah, had (in the Promise) got the pure Element for a new Body; and now when the promised Saviour went through Death into Life, and put on that pure Element for a Body, then their Souls in the Saviour (in whom they stood) in Hope got the Upperhand, and put on their new Body (in the Body of Christ) and lived in him, in his [Power and] Virtue; there were the holy Patriarchs and Prophets, who in this World had put on the Treader upon the Serpent in the Word of God, wherein they had prophesied of him, and wrought Miracles, they were now quickened in the Virtue of Christ; for the Virtue of Christ sprung up through Death, and reconciled the Father, who held the Soul captive in the Anger, and they now entered with Christ into Life.

(4) "But if Yew proveth them and findeth that they have completed their circuits and that it is not lawful to [re]turn them anew to the world, and that also the sign of the Ineffable is not with them, then Yew hath compassion upon them and leadeth them before the seven virgins of the Light. They baptize them with their baptisms, but they do not give them the spiritual chrism. And they lead them into the Treasury of the Light, but they do not put them in the orders of the Inheritance, because no sign and no seal of the Ineffable is with them. But they save them from all chastisements and put them into the light of the Treasury, separated and apart by themselves alone until the ascension of the universe. And at the time when they will draw apart the veils of the Treasury of the Light, they cleanse those souls anew and purify them most exceedingly and give them anew mysteries and put them in the last order which [is] in the Treasury, and those souls will be saved from all the chastisements of the judgments." And when the Saviour had said this, he said unto his disciples: "Have ye understood in what manner I discourse with you?"

(3) ¶Jesus came down with them, and stood in the plain; and the company of the disciples stood with them. A multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him, and to be healed.

(1) But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying, How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare Him, how will they spare us?

(5) When they thought of the Savior they came, and they came when he knew; they also came more exalted in the emanation according to the flesh than those who had been brought forth from a defect, because in this way they, too, received their bodily emanation, along with the body of the Savior, through the revelation and the mingling with him. These others were those of one substance, and it indeed is the spiritual (substance). The organization is different. This is one thing, that is another. Some come forth from passion and division, needing healing. Others are from prayer, so that they heal the sick, when they have been appointed to treat those who have fallen. These are the apostles and the evangelists. They are the disciples of the Savior, and teachers who need instruction. Why, then, did they, too, share in the passions in which those who have been brought forth from passion share, if indeed they are bodily productions in accordance with the organization and Savior, who did not share in the passions?

(88) Speaking then of the true Resurrection of Christ, we will also show [somewhat] concerning his Conversation (those forty Days) after his Resurrection, before his Ascension. Because we know that he is become a real Lord over Heaven, Earth, and Hell, therefore we show you how the Kingdom of this World, with all the Essences and Qualities thereof, has been subjected to him. And though he did not always converse visibly with his Disciples, yet many Times he showed himself to them visibly, palpably, and staying with them, according to the Kingdom of this World, according to his Body which he had here, which was swallowed up by the new Body, which he must present again, as God would have it to be presented; for God is Lord of every Thing, and every Thing must be changed (as he pleases) that he might thus show his Disciples his real Body, and the Print of his Nails, which stand in the Holy Christ, in his holy Body in Eternity, as

(20) And so it fell out, that every one would get the greatest Conflux of People he could, that he might be esteemed by most People; and these Lip-Christians did so multiply, that the sincere hearty Desire to God was left, and they only looked upon the Lip-priests, who did nothing but cause Strife and Contentions; and they all vapoured and boasted of their own Art and Skill which they had learned in the Schools and Universities, and cried, Look here is Christ, come running hither, thus and thus has Paid written; and another says, Come hither, here is Christ, thus and thus has Peter written; he was the Disciple of Christ, and had the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, this cannot be amiss; they do but deceive you, follow after me.

(99) For when he had conversed forty Days (after his Resurrection) in the Proba [or Trial] in this World, then he went up into a Mountain, whither he had appointed his Disciples to come, and went up aloft [or ascended visibly] with his own Body which he had offered up on the Cross (till a Cloud came and hid him from their Sight) for a sure Sign that he was their Brother, and that he (in his earthly Form and Body) would not forsake them; as he also said to them, Behold, I am with you to the End of the World.

(4) ¶When the apostles were returned, and were gathered unto Jesus, they told all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. Jesus said unto them.

(10) What were his Apostles? Poor, despised, illiterate fishermen. And what were they that believed their preaching? The poorer and meaner sort of the people. The High Priests and Scribes were the executioners of Christ, [they] who cried out, Crucify him, crucify him.

(4) ¶Jesus went about the cities and villages, teaching in synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing sickness among the people.

(90) Secondly, we intimate also how Christ conversed upon Earth forty Days after his Resurrection, understand, in the Kingdom of this World, whereas yet he was in Heaven, yet he bore that Image without any outward Glory or Clarity before the Eyes of Men, and he had the Body wholly with every Essence, as it hung on the Cross, except the Source of the Principle, which he had not; but else he had all Essences in Flesh and Blood, and yet the outward Flesh stood in the Might [and Power] of the heavenly. This we see, by his going in to his Disciples, the Door being shut, and he passed with his Body through the Wood of the Door. Thus you may understand, that the World is as nothing to him, and that he has Power over all Things.

(29) Again, his disciples said: "Tell us clearly how they came down from the invisibilities, from the immortal to the world that dies?"

(45) And that you may rightly and properly understand us; we [mean or] understand here no strange Christ, who is not our Brother; as himself said at his Resurrection, Go to my Brethren, and your Brethren, and tell them, I go to my God and to your God. As indeed the Body (which we here carry about us) is not the Image of God, which God created; for the Kingdom of this World puts its Image upon us, when Adam consented to yield to it; and we (if we be regenerated) are not at Home in this World with our new Man; as Christ said to his Disciples, / have called you out of this World, that you shall be where I am; and Saint Paul says, Our Conversation (as to the new Man) is in Heaven. Thus we understand also, that our Immanuel, [who is] the most holy of all, with his true Image of God (wherein also our true Image of God does consist) is not of this World; but as the old mortal Man (from the Kingdom of this World) hangs to us, so our mortal Man also hung to the Image of God in Christ, which he drew from his Mother Mary, as the pure Element [draws] the Kingdom of this World [to it.]